The New Otokage (S)
by MarzSpy
Summary: One Sequel to New Sakura. Three years ago, Sakura got a second chance at life and sought shelter in the arms of Akatsuki. Two years ago, she gained strength unimaginable to her previous self. One year ago she became Kage. But dying did not necessarily mean escaping her past, and what can she do when they come knocking on her door?
1. Prologue

**Hi! Here with another story. For any of you just clicking on this, this is a sequel to New Sakura, the likes of which you can find in my profile! Just as a warning to Sasu x Saku fans everywhere, when I first published it, it was intended to be an Ita x Saku, and there will be heavily implied hints, but if you read the authors notes you will be caught up to date. I plan on editing the first few chapters to incorporate this change of opinion, but as of now I have not made these changes yet, I apologize for the inconvenience!**

 **And now, for all of you returning readers. . .**

 **I'm back with the sequels! =D I'm so excited to see how everyone reacts to this, this is my first time doing a project like this, and my 2nd/3rd sequels to a long-term project. Like I may or may not have mentioned in New Sakura, the prologues and first few chapters will be very similar as far as plot goes, until it takes a major split further down the road. This took so much prior planning to make sure that the plots were unique and interesting, I'm not quite sure how I managed to create this in such a short amount of time, taking into consideration my other stories and social life. I hope that the feedback for this story/stories is as overwhelming as New Sakura was :3 Without further ado, I present to you guys the New Sakura Sequel, The New Otokage ^_^**

* * *

 **Summary: Three years ago, Sakura got a second chance at life and sought shelter in the arms of Akatsuki. Two years ago, she gained strength unimaginable to her previous self. One year ago she became Kage. But dying did not necessarily mean escaping her past, and what can she do when they come knocking on her door?**

 **Pairing: [Sasuke x Sakura] Itachi / Naruto**

 **Genre: Romance / Family**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.**

 **Chapter 1. Prologue**

* * *

 _Sakura was up long before the sun had actually risen. She had things to do, after all. "How are preparations coming along?" She muttered to the hooded nin beside her, both of them travelling at top speed, although relatively calm._

 _"It seems the promise of money managed to motivate people. We have some promising workers."_

 _"So when's the expected construction time?"_

 _"About a year, if all runs smoothly."_

 _Sakura's tongue clicked in irritation, but she said nothing more on the matter. 'If things ran smoothly' -which they never did. Alas, this was obviously to take time. It's not like building a hospital and functional roads took anything but time, as it was. "Did we figure out who was in control of this town?" she changed the subject._

 _"Hai. We pin-pointed him to one of Orochimaru's now nonoperational underground bases. Itachi is there now scouting the area."_

 _"And after him?"_

 _"The Daimyo has tasked us with eliminating all of Orochimaru's negative influence on this land before he even considers our request. According to the intel Deidara has gathered, this'll be the last one."_

 _At least this had been good new, Sakura couldn't help but think. "Tell Itachi not to intervene. This one's mine."_

 _"Hai."_

 _"Arigatou, Konan."_

 _Said hooded figure allowed a small smile to appear on her features. "You need not thank me." Truthfully speaking, it was she who should be thanking Sakura, for taking on this mission. It had been a rough two years, and finally, their preparation were starting to be concrete._

* * *

 _"This is it?" Sakura looked at the list of names -twenty, if she were lucky._

 _"That was all we could scavenge." Konan admitted regretfully. "We went to each city but that was all we could do."_

 _Sakura frown distastefully. "Well, it's better than nothing. I'll start the training myself."_

 _"Shouldn't this fall on someone else's hands? You're busy as it is." Konan muttered. "I can get Kisame to do it, or-"_

 _But Sakura raised her hand, a sign for Konan to stop. "They signed up because they liked the peace that I'm trying to obtain for this nation. If they are to follow under me, I think it only appropriate for me to be the first to get my hands on them." Sakura stated. "Bring them to the training ground we have assembled. I'll be there shortly."_

 _Konan paused momentarily, a small, knowing smile on her face. "Hai." And as she began leaving, she paused, and as an after thought, decided to chide in. "You truly are amazing, Sakura." She offered to explanation as she briskly disappeared as her clone dissipated, not seeing Sakura's blushing face at the compliment._

* * *

 _"Focus, Sakura." She could hear his voice reverberate in all corners of the expanse that was the arena, but no amount of his instructions would teach her how to do it._

 _"I'm trying, Itachi." she sighed, her hands already formed in the seal to release the genjutsu. She had been training since dawn now, and not for the first time this past month, and she had yet to be able to efficiently counter his genjutsu._

 _"Silence." Itachi instructed her, forcing her to shush. "Be confident in your abilities, kunoichi. I've seen what you are capable of. What is holding you back?" He was circling around her, like one would their prey, not missing the exhausted hunch of her back or the small trickles of sweat making their way down her brow._

 _"Nothing." she demanded adamantly. But she didn't sound very convincing, not to her, and definitely not to Itachi, as he made a full circle around her and stopped in front of her._

 _"Are you afraid of me, kunoichi?" his question wasn't confused, nor astounded -frankly, as far as he was concerned, she should be._

 _"Iee." She countered. But even though she said this, she knew that in the back of her mind, she could still not forget the atrocities she had heard Itachi had committed -had seen first hand what it was he had done to Sasuke, and knowing that this very same person was in the very first steps of breaking her was irrevocably frightening. She knew she had signed up for this, but things would only get worse from here on out._

 _"You lie." his voice seemed to echo, making Sakura flinch. "Use your fear. Focus on this fear. If you fear me, then fight me with all you have. Only then will you survive." He said no more, as the world around her once more warped into nothingness._

 _"Sasuke-kun...!" she could hear her voice, see the daunting images of Sasuke being slain, over and over again as it had been done several dozens of times just on this particular day, and she couldn't help but flinch at it. Despite how intrusive it was for Itachi to infiltrate her mind like this, she was at his mercy and she could not help the fact that she still cared for Sasuke, and for Naruto, and for many of her friends back at home, despite the betrayal._

 _As Itachi had instructed her to do, she cleared her mind, searching for the weak point in the genjutsu. She was tired of this -exhausted of the abuse and angry at the manipulation. 'I will... defeat... this... stupid... genjutsu, Shannaro!" And with a burst of chakra, one strong enough to catch Itachi off guard, suddenly the genjutsu that infiltrated Sakura's mind was broken, and everything went dark for just the slightest of moments._

 _And there Sakura was, sweat streaming down her brow, exhausted. Had she finally done it?_

 _"Itachi-nii...!" She flinched, looking around to what she knew to have been Sasuke's voice, although one more child-like and carefree than what she could remember it to be. No. She was still in a genjutsu, still stuck in her mind._

 _But wait... These weren't her memories. These weren't her thoughts at all, whiched begged the question, whose mind was she really in right now?_

 _"Maybe next time, ototou." She knew this voice as well, and as the setting changed she saw Itachi, but twelve or thirteen years old, and a much younger Sasuke alongside him. "Gomen." he apologized earnestly, his hand resting on Sasuke's head._

 _'Why this of all memories?' Sakura seemed shocked, at odds with the scene before her as it unraveled and fell apart, and turned into a memory entirely different, of Sasuke grown up at the age of thirteen and training on his own, day and night, through sunshine and rain. And then the next memory, Sasuke looked the same, but his typical blue attire was replaced with black, and he was slightly taller and more mature, and within the next instance it was a scene Sakura recalled to have heard about, an instance in which Naruto had been training with Jiraiya and had been ambushed by Kisame and Itachi. 'That's right... Sasuke-kun had been there...'_

 _Before she could think anything else, suddenly she was hurled backwards as the genjutsu broke, Itachi standing before her, his eyes ablaze with the Sharingan, and his hands in the typical hand sign to dispel the mind technique. There was silence in the clearing for a long time. "That'll be enough practice for today, Sakura." Without a moments notice, he turned around and walked away briskly, leaving Sakura alone and on the floor, sorely rubbing her butt._

 _She didn't know what to make of this, what to even think, but if there was one thing she was certain of, it was that Itachi had been watching Sasuke, from childhood into adulthood -who knew how long he had been watching over him, now? But why, and to what aims? Frankly, it made no sense to her, although something definitely stood out to Sakura._

 _Maybe Itachi cared more than he lead on..._

* * *

 _"Ahhh, Jiraiya. It's about time." Tsunade had felt her former teammate long before having actually seen him, so it was no surprise that she was already speaking before he fully walked through the door._

 _"Such a pleasure to see you as always, Tsunade-hime." he mused, mainly to himself, even as he earned a roll of her eyes from Tsunade. "And once again, it is nice to see you as well, Kakashi." the aforementioned shinobi had been so quiet, that if it weren't for his strong chakra and the flip of a page from one of his own books, Jiraiya would have never even sensed him._

 _"Likewise, Jiraiya." Kakashi greeted, closing his book shut before Tsunade pummeled him, and stuffing it into one of his miscellaneous pockets._

 _Yet, as much as Tsunade wanted to indulge herself with some company from her friend and comrade, she was busy, and he had something that she wanted. "Well?"_

 _Jiraiya sighed, his expression growing uncharacteristically serious. "As expected, we haven't seen or heard from them."_

 _Tsunade bit her thumb in a contemplative fashion, clearly irritated. "It's somewhat nerve-wracking," Tsunade began, how unusually inactive and quiet they have been..."_

 _Jiraiya had to admit it was. In recent times, Akatsuki had hardly been spotted. It had been what? A year since they made any large movements? They could offer him no clue of their whereabouts, or even of what they were up to, and why they were so dormant. They had made no attempt to capture any Jinchuuriki, and if anyone ever caught a glimpse of any of them, it was usually near Ame and Oto, not that any of them could figure out why without stepping foot in either of those countries, a feat that wasn't advised. After all, Ame was Akatsuki country, and they could not easily step foot into Oto without attracting unwanted attention._

 _"So long as our Jinchuuriki are safe, then we have nothing to worry about." Kakashi muttered._

 _"I would hardly say nothing, but from our current situation we can't do much." Tsunade admitted. "But we should still remain weary nevertheless. Clearly they are planning something, something big." Tsunade foreshadowed ominously. They were biding their time, building up their strengths until it was the perfect time to strike -it was all they could assume, and it was a scary thing to think. One Akatsuki member was hard enough to defeat on their own -what force were they gaining now? What ever it was that they were doing, it couldn't be any good for any of them. "Keep me posted if you find anything, Jiraiya. Kakashi, for now, I'm going to allow Team 7 to go out on missions with Naruto once more. For now, it seems that the risk is low."_

 _"Hai." Kakashi and Jiraiya accepted the request in unison._

 _"That is all for now." Tsunade dismissed them, and as such both men exited the Hokage's tower, with talks about a new book and conducting some research this very second at the hotsprings._

* * *

 _"You're the supposed hero?" one of the eighteen nin before her spoke out, staring at her in near annoyance.  
_

 _"I wouldn't call myself a hero, but yes, more or less." Sakura stated with a curt nod, her face expression blank and her body languid._

 _"You're a child." one man sneered. "I'm done with this; I knew it was too good to be true." And so he, along with two other shinobi stormed off before anything could even behind._

 _'Great, we haven't even started and we're down to fifteen.' Sakura could have rolled her eyes, but did not make her irritation known, keeping a relatively uninterested face expression. "Does anyone else want to leave? I'd rather you not waste my time." she bluntly stated as she looked at the rest of the men and women alike around her. Most were about her same age, with a small handful significantly young or older, somewhere along Kakashi's age, it seemed._

 _"How do we know this is the real deal?" A male spoke, his hair an unruly blue heap of curls on his head, younger than Sakura by at least six years. "I've heard the rumors -that you single-handedly eliminated all of the rogue-nin of Orochimaru's."_

 _"You'll come to find that dealing with Orochimaru's rogues was the simplest things I've dealt with as of late." she didn't even bat an eyelash. "And if you don't believe me, then we'll have a test."_

 _She knew this was so Kakashi-esque, but found this the quickest and easiest way to get them to trust her, and as such she pulled out a bell tied to a string from her pocket, letting it jingle as the breeze guided it. But suddenly she tossed it towards the miscellaneous blue-haired man, who precariously caught it, wondering if this was some sort of trap. "We'll play a little game." she began, slowly but surely shrugging of her cloak, as Konan, who had been standing alongside her the entire time, pulled it off. "I have half an hour to get this string from all of you. I don't care who holds it, I don't care how you protect it. And you know what, I'll do it using only one technique of your choosing."_

 _The shinobi stared at her. "You're not serious, right?" It was a girl this time, someone who could be no older than seventeen years old, her brown hair cut short._

 _Another seemed rather excited about the challenge. "Alright, how about Taijutsu?" Truth be told, he just wanted to fight her one on one._

 _"That's fine, if everyone is under the same consensus." Sakura shrugged._

 _The fifteen shinobi looked at each other, almost as if asking "Do you care?", until the blue haired man spoke up. "Yeah, Taijutsu is fine."_

 _"Alright. I'll give you all fifteen minutes to get acquainted to each other, and after that I'll leave. The trial will start ten minutes after my departure."_

 _And so it had been._

* * *

 _"And that makes it eleven minutes and twenty one seconds." Konan stated, watching Sakura twirl the bell in her hand, half of the shinobi on the ground, panting, and the other half barely standing. She had not one scratch on her, and truthfully speaking hadn't even broken a sweat._

 _"Fine. You win." the man stated begrudgingly. "So what now? Do you just start training us or what?"_

 _"Not entirely." Sakura stated. "I am giving you all the final say on whether or not you want to join my cause. But know that when you agree to this, you are not just your own person." Sakura's words seemed to echo across the clearing. "Once you join my ranks, you are becoming my family. I will work for you, I will sweat for you, and I will bleed for you if need be. All I ask is that you put that same dedication in reconstructing a nation and transform it into a peaceful and thriving society. Once you join my ranks, you will be working not for me, but for Otogakure. For a better future, one in which you can look back on and feel proud. If you choose to stay, I will expect you here bright and early tomorrow. If not, it was a pleasure meeting you."_

 _She made to leave, but was stopped by the blue-haired boy. "What's your name?"_

 _Sakura blinked. He wanted to know her name? "Miyuki." And just like that,_ _Sakura and Konan gathered their belongings, and nearly in the blink of an eye they began walking away. And as confident and as cool as Sakura had seemed, she couldn't help but mutter a quick "Do you think any of them will show?" to Konan nervously._

 _Konan smiled. "I think you've made a very lasting impact, Miyuki." Konan muttered._

 _And she would come to find that all fifteen of them showed of the very next day, and the day after, and the day after that._

* * *

 _It was a bright, sunny day, a beautiful spring morning that personified the perfect weather, not too hot and not too cold, with just the lightest of breezes playing in the wind. As it should be for a day smack in Spring._

 _But on this particular day, the Rookie 9 and Team Gai, save for Sasuke, found themselves inside of a barbecue restaurant, although this occasion was not at all random. It was March 28th, to be precise, Sakura's birthday, the second one since her passing, and they had made it a tradition to have a feast for her birthday, as Sakura was likened to have if she were still around._

 _And although the preparations and invitations had been sent out by Naruto, Ino, and Hinata respectively, neither of them had been able to get a hold of Sasuke since the day prior. The first year had been hard -on Sasuke particularly, and as such, Ino could not blame him for his lack of willing-ness to come to this small banquet of sorts._

 _"Should I go find him?" Naruto offered; truth be told, he didn't want Hinata's and Ino's efforts to go to waste, to reserve months in advance this specific date, just so that everyone could get together, only for Sasuke to bail out willingly, with no regard to the amount of effort and not to mention money, that it had taken for such an event._

 _"Iee." Ino shook his head. "I'm sure he has his reasons for not attending." Ino stated softly. She would go and look for him after everything had settled down, as she always did, and she would make sure he didn't wallow in his depression._

 _It hadn't taken long for the Rookie 9 to sit and eat, and it was sometime in between this feast that Ino snuck out, having a pretty clear idea of where it was that Sasuke would be. As such, she marched her way to the cemetery where Sakura's gravestone was located, and lo and behold there the Uchiha was, sitting alongside her tomb with flowers resting on his lap, momentarily forgotten._

 _Ino couldn't tell what he was doing, but she could see his mouth moving, hear some sort of vocalization on his behalf, and she couldn't help but identify that Sasuke was once again talking to her grave, and the thought made Ino smile and well up with some sort of unknown happiness. She stared up at the sky then, one lingering thought on her mind._

 _'He truly does love you, Forehead Girl.'_

 _She wasn't blind, nor oblivious, and because of the fact that she, along with Naruto, had designated themselves as Sasuke's sort of caretaker, they were mutually understanding of Sasuke's thought process and had a better insight on his life than anyone could give them credit for. She would watch, dutifully so, as once a month, precisely on the day of her passing, he would march his way to her grave, with either some flowers or a small meal, and he would sit there, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours depending on his schedule, and spend his time there. Sometimes he would talk, other times he would remain silent and simply enjoy his meal, but in any of these occasions, there never failed to be some sort of peaceful expression on Sasuke's face, one which Naruto and Ino had only ever caught in that very location, sitting alongside Sakura's grave._

 _Yes, he had come to terms with the fact that Sakura would never come back to him, to them, but Ino had been right -talking seemed to ease him, made him feel that Sakura was never too far away, and it was comforting enough for him to continue his small tradition as best he could._

 _Truth be told, after all this time, he still could not get over the cosmic irony of the situation. Sakura had been the careful one -the analytical one that always ended up saving their behinds someway or another. If anyone should have died it should have been him, or perhaps Naruto, and hell, even Kakashi was dangerously unpredictable, but not her. She had been a controlled variable in not just his life, but in Naruto's life, and in Kakashi's life, and even in Sai's life, so for her to have perished before any of them?_

 _Sakura liked to play cruel jokes -it was all Sasuke could think of._

 _But on this particular day, this thought which was normally almost amusing to him rang especially bitter and foul in his mind. For the life of him, he could not understand why he was here, celebrating a birthday, a day commemorating another year of being alive, in front of her tombstone. But he wasn't entirely certain he could stand it, the happiness and exuberance that his teammates would no doubt be sharing at the restaurant, and as such he had opted out of their plans. He much preferred this, and it reminded him how he used to be back in the days, during the time that he had spent with Orochimaru. He had been a lone wolf, always preferring solitude and silence over any sort of company. Sakura and Naruto had changed that, but on certain days such as these he felt reverting to his old self was easiest when dealing with this sort of tragedy._

 _"Sasuke"_

 _It had been but one word, which forced him to look up at his companion, although he had sensed her coming long ago. He wasn't at all surprised to see her there; she always was, and he wasn't even the least bit bothered when she began to approach him, and sat down alongside Sakura's tombstone._

 _"You must think me weak, right?" Sasuke mused, for some reason thinking this ordeal to be funny. He was the only one who still did this, visiting Sakura's grave every month. Sure enough, he would see people such as Ino, TenTen, Hinata, and Naruto often enough, but not a strict regiment like it was for him. And even on this most special occasion, he fled and sought refuge under the only lingering symbol of Sakura's presence._

 _"It beats locking yourself up in your house for the entirety of the day." Ino stated, disregarding Sasuke's statement. After all, this had been what he had done during her first birthday, despite the Rookie 9's insistence of visiting her grave once more. And just the mere fact that Sasuke was able to do so now showed a great growth in the man, and Ino couldn't be any more proud that Sasuke was deciding to honor Sakura's life in his own way. But at that comment, Sasuke's eyes turned a few shades darker as he recalled the previous year, exactly to the day, where he had nearly broken down in remorse and guilt, as if for some reason it was entirely his fault that she was no longer in Konoha._

 _Sensing this, Ino decided to instead change the subject. "Hinata and Naruto are as happy as ever, Forehead, although he's still nowhere near getting Tsunade's approval for becoming the next Hokage..." And so she began to speak, in a similar fashion that she knew Sasuke to have been doing, and she spoke to the grave about random topics, namely about what was going on in everyone's daily life, because she knew that this would somehow make Sasuke feel better -and it did, and soon enough they were both talking to Sakura for roughly ten minutes, until Ino decided that she had done her job in making sure Sasuke was doing okay._

 _"Whenever you're ready to join us, we'll be going to the Hyuga Compound for some drinks after the barbecue." Ino simply stated, getting up. She placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, an effort to show him support, and gave Sakura's tomb one last glance. "I'll see you later, Sakura." And with a silent prayer, she was off towards the restaurant, leaving Sasuke alone._

 _"Arigatou, Ino." he called out to her as he watched her retreating figure. She paused momentarily, but continued on her way without so much as sparing him a glance._

 _He had no reason to thank her, after all. This was what friends were for, and Ino knew, clear as day, that Sakura would want her to make sure that Sasuke was okay in her stead._

* * *

 _When Ino returned to the restaurant, she found that everyone had already left. Clearly, she had taken too long._

 _-Everyone but Sai, that is. "Did everyone head over to Hinata's?" she questioned, not bothering with a greeting for someone she had become quite close to in recent months. In fact, ever since their first Christmas without Sakura, it seemed he would pop up in her life often at the most random and unexpected of times. He had become a close friend, dare she say it._

 _"Hai." Sai confirmed. "I offered to stay behind so you did not have to walk alone to the compound."_

 _Ino couldn't help but smile. "Arigatou, Sai. That was awfully kind of you for someone who struggles with compassion." Ino made light of his lack of social understanding and gathered her belongings, the likes of which she had left at the restaurant before heading over to the cemetery. Without further interruption both shinobi exited the establishment, heading towards the Hyuga compound at a leisure pace. It was silent between them for a long time, Ino clearly too preoccupied with her thoughts to worry about starting a conversation._

 _"How was he?" Sai asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. He had seen her leave discreetly, so as to not alert people of her absence, and although she and Naruto had spoken in hushed voices before departing, he knew this had much to do with one Sasuke Uchiha. Don't ask him why, because he himself could not come up with a proper answer, but he had, for a lack of better words, been keeping tabs on her in recent months, if only because he found it astonishing how much effort she put into keeping everybody's spirits high, especially in times such as these._

 _"He was... good..." Ino stated contemplatively. "I didn't know what to expect from him today, but he seemed to be in high spirits, all things considered." Ino smiled slightly._

 _"And you?"_

 _Ino involuntarily flinched, but her smile was still plastered on her face. "What do you mean, Sai? I'm perfectly fine."_

 _"You can't fool me of all people with those smiles, Ino." he stated simply. He was the king of fake emotions, after all. He knew everything there was to know about fake smiles and comments, and as such it was no surprise that he could see right through Ino._

 _Her smile faltered, her eyes gazing down in turmoil, but she did not offer him a response._

 _"I know you've taken it upon yourself to make sure that Sasuke is doing alright, but this burden doesn't fall solely on you -and by no means does it mean that you're not allowed to mourn however it is you want to." Yes, Sai had noticed it long ago, how Ino had hardly given herself any time too grieve for her loss, always too preoccupied with planning this event or that event, or smiling for the sake of her team, or for Sasuke or Hinata, or whoever else. She appeared incredibly strong, hand's down the backbone of the group (alongside Naruto), but Ino was a fragile woman who had lost her best friend since childhood, her long-time rival, and forcing herself to appear happy all the time was certainly not helping her cope. "You are allowed to lean on others, you know."_

 _Sai didn't know why he even cared enough to tell her, but he could acknowledge the fact that five years ago, he would have never bothered trying to console a person. But Sakura and Naruto had changed him, and they opened the doors to a different world for him, a world filled with sentiment and emotions, and feelings of pain which he would have otherwise never come across had it not been for them. As such, he couldn't help but sympathize with Ino, and although he had his more reserved and confined ways of mourning the loss of someone so important to him, he began to understand that everyone had a different way of dealing._

 _Sasuke never liked to talk about it_

 _Ino tried to cope with it by making others happy_

 _Hinata was oddly at peace with it, always smiling and speaking happily of past instances with her_

 _Naruto grinned proudly and stated that Sakura would see him be Hokage, from wherever she was_

 _Kakashi never let anyone in and tip-toed around the subject_

 _Tsunade refused to talk about it unless drunk_

 _Shizune still had mixed sentiments about the entire ordeal and immersed herself in her work when days like these came about_

 _And he -well, he painted._

 _But Ino's way of coping was definitely the most self-sacrificing, and Sai knew that it would break her eventually if she didn't change her ways. As such, he had volunteered to wait for her, as he had done several times before in the past two years, if only to indicate to her that if she needed to lean on someone, he would be her backbone if she needed it._

 _She smiled and looked at him then, although Sai could clearly see all the pain in her eyes, how distraught she was over the matter._

 _She didn't know why, but Sai seemed to be the only one capable of seeing how badly she was hurting, and it brought her immense comfort to hear his words. "Arigatou, Sai..." He had brought up topics she would have preferred he not, and now she could feel herself slipping, becoming much too vulnerable than she would have preferred._

 _"I believe the reunion will continue well enough without us." Sai decided. "Come with me."_

* * *

 _There had been a ruckus at the center of the village, a large crowd of people (nearly the entire city and then some) gathered at the town square to watch a women with remarkably green eyes and blonde hair speaking atop the Daimyo's balcony, and in the steps beneath her at least a hundred shinobi. "People of Otogakure." Her voice seemed to boom from all sorts of directions. "The time of suffering for this nation has gone on too long. It is time that we put an end to this, and start anew...-" and so her speech began, in which she stated all she had accomplished in these past three years, all of the shinobi she had helped train, and all of Orochimaru's ex-followers she had helped rid Sound of, and all of the hospitals she had opened and the roads she had constructed and the work she had created, although many of the people below already knew all of her accomplishments. "Accordingly, as long as there are no objections, I would like to nominate myself for the position of a new Otokage, one who promises to put worth all of her strength and effort to reconstruct Sound, better than ever."_

 _And as her speech came to a close and she was allowed a moment's breath, suddenly cheers erupted from all corners of the city, telling Sakura all she needed to know._

 _"This is a New Day for Otogakure. So tonight, we cheer to a brighter future."_

 _The cheers continued, perhaps for five minutes, perhaps for an hour -Sakura was too elated to note the time, as she entered the Daimyo's building, where she found the aforementioned Daimyo, accompanied by Konan, Kisame and Itachi (of course henge'd), and two more shinobi officially garnering a Sound hitae-ate._

 _"You did it! You're officially the Otokage!" the blue haired boy stated in exuberant excitement._

 _"Calm down Akira. My work isn't done just because I've gained the title." she allowed herself to ruffle the boys as always unruly hair._

 _"Congratulations. You have earned the hearts of the people. Good luck keeping it." the Daimyo hardly seemed impressed -this Otokage would be no different from the previous one, he was sure._

 _But Sakura hardly cared about what the Daimyo thought as it was. "We shall celebrate this small victory tonight, and work out the details another day." she decided with a smile._

* * *

 _"A new Otokage has been named." Tsunade's fists tightened at the news from her ANBU._

 _"And of the rumors?" she asked._

 _"We cannot confirm anything other than that sightings of Akatsuki have increased irregularly in that area over the year."_

 _"Very well, you're dismissed." Tsunade stated, her mind on other matters. She had tasked Jiraiya on getting information from this so called new Kage, and she had yet to hear back from him -she swore if he was wasting her time and was at the strip club right now, she'd have his head on a silver platter._

 _Almost as if he could sense his impending doom by her hands, suddenly there was a puff of smoke in her office, as said gray-haired Sannin appeared using a Body Flicker technique. "Ahh, just the teammate I wanted to see." he stated with a goofy grin._

 _"You're in **my** office, don't act like this was a coincidence." she stated irritably. "But never mind that. I assume you've obtained what I asked of you." She waited expectantly._

 _"Hai... sort of." Jiraiya confirmed. And as he stated this, he pulled out a file from within his robes, and tossed it on top of Tsunade's desk, allowing her to grab it and read over its contents._

 _"Miyuki..." she muttered as she scanned the file. "So I ask for information, and you get me her name. You couldn't even get me her picture Jiraiya, really?" clearly, Tsunade was annoyed._

 _"That was my problem. No matter where I went or who I turned to, absolutely nobody had any information on her. Who she was, where she came from, if she had any family, or even what her favorite color is. I couldn't even get a last name for you. It's like she wasn't alive until last year." Jiraiya stated, somewhat troubled by this. "But one thing I was able to confirm is that she does have clear connections to Akatsuki, although the circumstances aren't clear to us."_

 _"Well if Akatsuki's involved it can't be anything good for us, so it doesn't quite matter what those circumstances are."_

 _"I suppose, but..." Jiraiya seemed hesitant to continue his train of thought._

 _Tsunade raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "But what?"_

 _"But you should pry into what you have failed to ask of your ANBU." Jiraiya stated, although Tsunade didn't seem to understand what he was implying. "Have you heard of Sound's economic standing now?"_

 _"I've heard tid-bits." Tsunade brushed it aside._

 _"She's built hospitals and schools all across the lands. She's constructed roads and set up a police force just within the span of a year. She's in the midst of creating a Ninja Academy and has eliminated all of Orochimaru's influence in the land. She doesn't look like someone trying to obtain power."_

 _Tsunade let this information sink in. She had done all of this when she had barely been officially named as Kage but a week prior? She had been busy, that's for sure. So what was her agenda? Her purpose for doing all of this? "She's trying to win her people over..."_

 _"Yeah... and it's worked; remarkably so, in fact." Jiraiya seemed to find some humor in it. After all, this kunoichi was succeeding in all of the areas his former teammate (the one not currently Hokage) had failed. Where Orochimaru had only cared about possible test subjects, she genuinely cared about cleaning up the mess he made._

 _"Why is this relevant, Jiraiya?" she asked with a sigh._

 _"Maybe we shouldn't accuse her of having malicious intentions so soon. She has yet to take any harmful action against anyone, so maybe we should see how things play out before making assumptions and acting against her." he reasoned._

 _"It's not like I was planning to anyhow." Tsunade sighed. After all, taking violent action against a previous nation, now fallen, would make it look like Konoha was trying to spread out and obtain new land, an action that would clearly not bode well with the other Kages. As things stood, her hands were tied."Keep me in the loop."_

 _"As you wish, Lady Tsunade."_

* * *

"To our new Otokage." Sera stated, opening up a bottle of apple cider (no alcohol for her little munchkins, after all).

"Cheers!" they all shouted in excitement, Kisame and Konan quick to swallow the bubbly drink. It had been four hours since Sakura was officially declared the new Otokage, and she could still not believe it. Her. Sakura Haruno, the one nobody paid attention to during her Genin years, had now surpassed her teammates and all of her Rookie 9 in title. The without a kekkei genkai or without a notable clan or a tailed beast. The more average than average kunoichi with exotic hair color, Haruno Sakura.

"I would like to make a toast." Sakura stated with a smile on her face, "to all of you, for helping me realize my dream, and working so hard to make this happen for me." And it was true. She would have never been able to accomplish all of this had it not been for the help of Itachi or Konan or Kisame, or even Sera. And not to mention the financial backing of Akatsuki. Until just recently, she had been running her operations using the finances of Akatsuki, and had barely began taking donations from the village just a month before being officially branded as their Kage. "Tomorrow will be busy for all of us. So try and get a good night's sleep. We begin our operations of creating our Ninja Academy tomorrow."

Even though she stated this, she had no intention of following her own advice, seeing as three hours later, and mind you it was already midnight by the time that everyone left Sera's house, she was still at the desk in her own home, doing away with paperwork and reading up on a mind-numbing amount of things. Konan had accordingly gone to sleep in a spare bedroom they had constructed in Sera's household, while Kisame and Itachi were left to follow Sakura back to her own place, where they would be left to fight for the remaining spare in there.

"You're working too hard again, Pinky." Kisame was casually laying on the couch behind Sakura's desk area, already accepting of his Fate to forever sleep on the couch, as he tossed a ball up and down in an idle manner.

"Am not." Sakura muttered, not entirely paying attention, too focused on her work.

"Kisame is right, Sakura." Itachi's sudden voice, spoken so close to her, made her visibly jolt upwards in surprise, an action which earned her a snort of amusement from Kisame.

"Kami Itachi, must you always do that?" she sighed in frustration, placing a hand over her heart, a means of depicting her faster than normal heart rate.

"Do not blame me for your lack of awareness." Itachi dismissed Sakura's pout. "Furthermore, if you could not even sense me, clearly you lack sleep, as Kisame implied." Nevertheless, he placed a warm cup of tea alongside Sakura, a tradition he had become accustomed to over the years of them working closely alongside each other.

"Yeah, and privacy." Sakura retorted, although both Kisame and Itachi knew she didn't mean it. "You two can go to sleep without me, y'know? There's no point in waiting up."

"We'll at least keep you company." Kisame dismissed Sakura's concern.

"I'll be done in a few minutes, I promise." Sakura stated. "At least one out of the three of us needs to be fully awake for tomorrow's proceedings with the Daimyo." she quirked a smile, taking a short break from her work to turn on her seat, so that she could properly address her two Akatsuki friends, as she gripped the small teacup Itachi had placed by her side.

"I respectfully decline, and instead request you worry about yourself more than us. Do we seem that inept?" Itachi raised an eyebrow, although they all knew this was Itachi's attempt at "humor."

"Do I?" she challenged with a daring sort of taunting expression playing in her eyes.

Yet, it seemed Itachi had no haughty response to this, and as such remained silent and walked away. "A few more minutes, Sakura." he repeated her words.

Sakura scoffed, and turned back around to face her work. "Hai, hai." Yet, Sakura hardly paid any attention to the time, as it began ticking by yet again. But Sakura was exhausted, truth be told, and it wasn't much longer than an hour after Itachi had retired to the spare room, the new installment to Sakura's previous one-bedroom home, that Sakura ended up passing out on the desk. This was not at all to mean that Itachi, nor Kisame, had actually followed her advice and had gone to sleep, though. Promptly after she had fallen asleep, almost as if they were synchronized in their mechanics, Kisame and Itachi got up and walked over to the hunched kunoichi, her mouth slightly apart with a slow trail of drool making its way down her face.

"She is incorrigible." Itachi seemed dismayed, a clear frown on his features. He had a blanket in his hand, one he carefully wrapped against her small frame, even as Kisame laughed at his actions.

"You dote after her like a mother hen, Itachi." Kisame mused.

"I wouldn't need to if she took care of herself." Itachi ignored Kisame's statement, picking up the empty cup of tea and walking it towards the kitchen. And, almost as if he were accustomed to it, Kisame began to turn off the light on her desk, and daintily picked up the kunoichi currently passed out. Truth be told, neither of them had any intention of going to sleep before seeing to it that Sakura did too.

As such, it had been their duty, for the nth time because they had lost count by now, to clean up after Sakura, turn off all the lights, and pick up her dainty figure and carry her to her room, and of course, make sure she was tucked in well, for they both knew she got cold too easily.

It was actually quite remarkable to see how far they had fallen from their former glory -their power, which rivaled that of Kages, and here they were, their sole duty to care for the girl drooling on herself, and tucking her into bed when she failed to do so for herself. If Itachi was the mother hen, as Kisame had dubbed him, then the shark-nin would be akin to the protective older brother to Sakura, so he had no room to speak so haughtily, honestly.

* * *

Sakura came to bright and early, no thanks to Itachi pulling aside the blinds that were blocking the light from Sakura's sleeping form. She groaned, one Itachi had heard often in the past years, due to Sakura's adamant protest of Itachi's disregard of the "five more minutes" rule. And despite Kisame's agreement, that this was a rule that should be honorably upholded, Itachi ignored them both and went on with his day.

"Breakfast at Sera's is almost done. You and Kisame are the only ones to yet wake."

Yet, she either couldn't understand him yet, or chose not to listen to him, as she attempted to cover her face with a pillow -a useless action, as Itachi had already seen this coming and had removed said pillow from her hands before she could even move it an inch. She growled, a non-threatening puppy-like one, as she instead chose her duvet for said action of covering her face. "Itachi you're insufferable."

"It's not my job to let you sleep in, Sakura." he muttered. "As I recall, you are the one who did not want to go to sleep when you told you to."

"Blah blah blah." Sakura scowled, and promptly afterwards the blankets were suddenly hurled off of Sakura, ripped from her tight grasp as it was instead tossed to the floor.

"Up." he insisted sternly once more.

"But I'm so tired." she nearly cried out in agony -and for Kami's sake, why was it so damn cold?!

"You have five minutes." he gave her a pointed look, said no more, and walked away, closing the door to Sakura's bedroom behind him.

And so there Sakura lay, cold and groggy, her hair a disarray and her cheeks tinted pink. Because she knew she had fallen asleep at her desk, and that Kisame and Itachi had more than likely tucked her into bed, as they always did, because she was too stubborn to listen to them even when a part of her knew them to be right. Her inner swore she did this on purpose, secretly liking being doted over as if she were a child. But to be honest, how could she not? When had anyone heard of Akatsuki tucking people in and wrapping blankets around them? Nevertheless, she didn't want Itachi coming back and reprimanding her for still being in bed. As such, she stood up abruptly, stretching all the while she walked outside of her room and into the living room, where she could see Kisame still snoring his life away.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." she was not the least bit gentle with the shark nin, pulling the blankets off of him and, playfully, of course, tipping the entire couch over, causing the nin to fall off with an uncharacteristic yelp, of which she couldn't help but snicker at.

"Must you always do that." his statement was mumbled, due to his face's current position on the ground.

"If Itachi won't let me sleep peacefully what makes you think I will let you sleep in?" Sakura snickered, clearly amused. "Anyhow, Sera's breakfast is nearly served. I'm going to go shower, don't wait up." And so she fixed her furniture and briskly turned around, heading towards her bathroom.

Although Kisame grumbled in defiance, he couldn't deny the fact that breakfast sounded delightful right now -especially Sera's.

* * *

When Sakura had emerged from her bathroom fully dressed, she found her home deserted, although she could clearly feel the presence of her comrades just a block away at Sera's house, the likes of which had doubled in size with a little bit of funding from Sakura and Akatsuki respectively, in order to accommodate the appearance of the likes of Sakura, Kisame, Konan, and every so often, a couple of her most trusted shinobi such as Akira.

Before heading out, Sakura allowed herself time to examine her appearance, for the very first time dressed in traditional Kage-like attire, a hat similar to that of her former shishou's placed on her head. But instead of the red color she was oh-so familiar with, a purple one took its place atop her head, one she adamantly disliked because of its eerie resemblance to the snake nin. Alas, she could not be picky about the color.

It was odd to see herself standing there, officially titled as the Nidaime Otokage; she would never have imagined herself to be in this position, leading a nation, let alone a nation not her own, but here she was, and there was no turning back. That being said, she turned around and without so much as a second glance to her appearance.

She could hear the commotion of her comrades long before she had actually entered Sera's house, although she hadn't expected any less from the rambunctious group, although this was probably due primarily to Sera, Kisame, and Suki and Suzuki. Although, strangely enough, it seemed to have died down by the time she approached the door, not that she could understand why.

And so she opened it, needing no invitation, and to her surprise, the table lay set an array of delicious food forming a buffet in front of her, all of her friends already sitting down, waiting for her arrival. "Good morning everyone." she greeted calmly.

"Congratulations, Sakura-oneesama~!" Suki and Suzuki shouted excitedly.

Although a smile framed her face, Sakura couldn't help but sigh. "We already celebrated last night. There truly was no need for such a feast, Sera." she reminded the two girls, putting a hand on each of their hands as she walked in and took a seat in between Itachi and Konan, a bow of gratitude sent to Sera all the while.

"Think of this as a feast fit for a Kage." Sera brushed her aside.

"I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't budge on the matter." Konan stated calmly, although she wasn't opposed to the quantity of the food (Kisame always ended up eating half of it anyway).

"She never does." Sakura mused. "But never mind that. What's on our agenda today?"

"We have a meeting with the Daimyo in the hidden village in two hours. We are to begin discussing the preparations for the Ninja Academy as well as delegate roles for head of staff for the programs we are establishing." Konan stated.

Sakura nodded. "The paperwork on the matter is already completed. I'll give it to Akira to file and sort out upon our arrival, and we'll sort out the rest later." For now, she would have a nice breakfast with her make-shift family, and worry about the less than accommodating Daimyo she would have to deal with from now on.

* * *

The Daimyo, with a characteristic frown on his face, looked over the paperwork that Miyuki had created for him to look at, including budget, prices, blue prints, and any other information she had deemed relevant enough to include. They had been discussing plans for well over an hour now, and still he could not say that he was entirely pleased with her plans, not that she hadn't been concise enough or anything like that -she had planned it nearly to the last detail. "And how do you plan to fund this project of yours?" he asked condescendingly.

"If you refuse to participate, as you have with every other project I have started for your village, then I shall make due with my own resources, though I will not hesitate to ask for donations from the village." Miyuki stated, not afraid to show some passive-aggressive malice. It was understandable that the Daimyo didn't want to lend out money, especially not to a stranger, when money was hard to come to in these lands. But after three years of building hospitals and schools and roads and becoming Kage for Kami's sake, her intentions were clear, but still he did not budge, if only to keep his funds.

"I am not opposed to the changes you are making, make no mistake of that, Miyuki." the Daimyo narrowed his eyes. "By returning us to a status of a Hidden Village, you will indeed increase income and gross value of Otogakure. But you are also bringing on politics only shinobi's bring to the table; a messy side of politics I would rather not be a part of, especially if the rumors of your so-called funding are true." the Daimyo stated warily.

"I am well aware of what I am doing." Miyuki clipped in. It was definitely dangerous business what Sakura was getting them involved in; shinobi life style only ever meant trouble and warfare in the long run, but it was a necessary sacrifice. "And as for your concern, if I didn't get my funding from them would you have helped?" she raised a delicate eyebrow, but the seconds ticked by and the Daimyo didn't respond. "I didn't think so. Are we done here?"

"...I'll be in touch." he finally grumbled, and with a nod Sakura turned around and walked away, two shinobi following behind her, both with blue hair, but only one an Akatsuki member.

They walked swiftly and purposely outside of the Daimyo's building, and it wasn't until they were finally out that Akira let out a sight of relief. "Do you think it's really okay to speak that way to the Daimyo, Lady Miyuki?"

"He wouldn't dare to say anything against me. He knows what I'm doing will eventually bring him loads more income; he's such a greedy old bag whose in it for the money." Miyuki stated. "You should learn the politics, lest you take my place in the future."

At the comment, now matter how absent-mindedly Sakura had said it, Akira couldn't help but blush profusely. "I-I-I could never Lady Miyuki! I would never be able to surpass the reputation you have carved."

His reaction was priceless, down to the nervous, Hinata-esque way he played with his fingers. As such, Sakura couldn't help herself from ruffling his unruly hair, a chuckle escaping her mouth. "Have more confidence in yourself Akira."

Before any more words could be spoken between them, a figure appeared with a puff of smoke, a person who Sakura knew to be Itachi, of course henge'd. Sakura raised an eyebrow, knowing that Itachi must have some urgent news to tell her if he appeared before her so informally. "Is something the matter?" she asked.

"Sayaka says you have received a letter in your office early this morning."

"A letter?" If it had been Akatsuki, it would have been delivered via Konan or Itachi respectively, and who else would be trying to speak to her other than Pein? "Who is it from?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You may see for yourself." Somehow, Sakura didn't like the answer that Itachi had given her, and as such she wasted to time. "Inform Sayaka to bring the letter to my office. Akira, give me the papers to sign; I'll get started on them while I wait."

"Hai, Lady Miyuki." Akira bowed, and at once handed Sakura her documents. Within a moment's notice, she had disappeared with a puff of smoke, and in the next second she was back in her office, wasting no time in signing off on the papers she had acquired from the Daimyo.

Within the next few minutes, Sayaka, a kunoichi that had stood alongside Akira during their first meeting, approached her with a bow. "I have the letter you have requested, Otokage-sama." she stated calmly.

"Who is it from?" She asked the question Itachi had refused to answer.

"It says here its from the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure, Lady Miyuki."

Her scribbling halted, a small ink blob forming at the corner of her signature. Truth be told, that had been the one thing she hadn't expected to hear. "Bring it here. You're free to go, Sayaka-chan." she ordered, and with a bow her secretary did just that, and then promptly dismissed herself to finish her other duties.

Sakura sighed, eyeing the scroll but eventually tossing it on her desk, without even opening it.

What could her former mentor possibly want?

* * *

 **P.S. Sakura's new name, Miyuki, translates to "snow". I re-named her this because she was reborn in the snow (winter time), in essence =] That is all.**

 **So here it is! THE LONG AWAITED PROLOGUE! I do truly truly truly hope that it met everybody's standards. I tried my best to not make this one so repetitive to the ItaxSaku version, but unfortunately, there are several events that overlap. This will be, for the most part, the main similarity between them though.**

 **This prologue is a wee bit shorter than the other one due to a longer flashback, but they both end on exactly the same lines/events.**

 **Moving on, a lot of you may be wondering what I'm going to do as for as updating goes, and I have to be honest, I don't know just yet. I'm going to say the average time will be one chapter a month, but if I'm trying to update both sequels at the same time, then I might not be able to do this deadline. I'll let you guys know how well I'm able to balance the work load on top of school and life. Yet, despite this, the new chapters for these will probably not be posted for another 2 months. I want to give myself more time to work on Sakura's New Future and Somewhere We Belong before picking up on this again. I'm sorry about that!**

 **Let me know what you all think?Above all else, as the first 3-4 chapters are up, I'd like to know if the stories are too repetitive, or too similar to each other. There's no point in me making two separate stories if the plots end up looking near identical, after all.**

 **Any and all feedback would be much appreciated! Until next time!**

 **Check my profile for updates on my latest projects and update times!**

 **-MarzSpy**


	2. Audience

**Hello! Another chapter c: Sorry it took so long to get out, but I've been busy.**

 **P.S. Sorry if there are any typos, I kinda just wanted to get the chapter out there since it's been a while xD If there are any mistakes don't be afraid to let me know so i can fix them.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.**

 **Chapter 2: Audience**

* * *

Sakura had been staring at the scroll for hours now, in between her doing away with paperwork absent-mindedly and avoiding contact with her Akatsuki friends, namely Itachi and Konan (although out of the two of them, only Itachi knew that she had received said letter). After all the paperwork had been done and sent with Sayaka to be filed and sent to the Daimyo respectively, she knew she could no longer avoid her duty, especially not after Itachi had appeared in her office, through the window with a henge in place.

He noticed the scroll lay unopened on the corner of her desk, although he could not blame her for taking her time in reading over its contents. Whatever it was, it could not be good for Sakura, although Itachi had a hunch as to what it could be. He did not press her on the matter; his being there was enough pressing for her, he was sure, so he simply stood there by the wall furthest to her desk, waiting patiently for the inevitable.

"You sure are pushy aren't you, Itachi?" she seemed irritated by his presence. "Or nosy, I can't tell which at the moment." she added as an after thought. "Maybe both." Clearly, she was trying to make light out of the situation, although her mind was clearly burdened by a simple scroll.

"And you are nervous, Sakura." he ignored her comments. "Why?" he spoke so casually.

"Why? Because this is the last people I want to hear from, what do you mean _why_?" Sakura frowned, her eyes finally meeting those of Itachi's. For Kami's sake this was the nation she formally followed, the nation where all of her previous friends and comrades lived, and it was unnerving to think her former mentor wanted to relay a message to her. With that being said, Sakura grabbed the scroll, and with one last sigh, threw away her reservation and opened the scroll. There was no reason to get her panties in a bunch without even knowing what Tsunade wanted, after all.

 _Dear Otokage,_

 _Konoha humbly invites you to our village, in hopes of becoming better acquainted with you. I sincerely hope you accept our invitation in hopes of creating some sort of friendship between these two nations, one which will benefit us both in the long run. I hope to hear your response soon. If you have any questions or concerns on the matter, do not hesitate to ask as well._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Senju Tsunade, Godaime Hokage_

Sakura blinked; twice, thrice. Well, this was just her luck.

Almost as if sensing her displeasure, Itachi kicked himself off of the wall he had been leaning on and approached her. He stood beside her, and read the contents fairly quickly, this having been exactly what he had suspected it to be.

Konoha was seeking an audience with Sakura, although he knew with much certainty that this was not about becoming friends, and he knew that Sakura knew this well too. "You could always refuse." Itachi spoke. "You are too compromised with your busy agenda here in Otogakure as it is." he reasoned.

Sakura sighed -Itachi was right. She had more than enough reason to refuse, and were it not for the (true) rumors floating around the air, she would in all honesty do it too. "No, I can't refuse." she stated begrudgingly. Tsunade had had a reason for inviting her, a subtle interrogation of sorts, and Sakura knew that her declining meant she had something to hide, and that the rumors were in essence true (which they were, but that didn't mean Sakura wanted her business being aired out like laundry).

"But there is much for you to do here." Itachi stated.

Sakura gave the letter one last, long hard look, before she finally addressed Itachi fully. "You're right. Which is why if Konoha wants an audience with me, then they'll come here."

* * *

 _Dear Hokage,_

 _Although I am grateful for the invitation, I am in the middle of establishing plans for an Academy, among other things, and am unable to come see you at the present time. If this meeting is urgent to you, then I welcome you and/or any of your shionbi to instead come to my village. I will make all the proper accommodations for you if you so choose to come. Once again, thank you for writing to me, and I hope to hear your response soon._

 _Regards,_

 _Nidaime Otokage_

Although Sakura had written this fairly quickly, this was not to mean that she had sent it out just as fast. No -it had been sitting at her desk now for hours, as she procrastinated on truly taking action. Was this truly the best course of action to take? Perhaps not, because this meant letting prying eyes into her home, mind you, a home with Akatsuki members roaming around willy nilly. More than that, it meant putting her nation at risk from these very same prying eyes, which would be able to take notes on its infrastructure. Weaknesses, strengths, possible locations of attacks, and what have you. Otogakure had been completely closed off from outsiders for years since her emergence similarly to Ame after Hanzo's reign, and as such this was all valuable information to have about your enemy.

-But this was all assuming that Konohagakure did in fact _consider_ her an enemy to begin with. Tsunade had never acted so maliciously before, even with countries like Iwa who they had bad blood with, and what would make Oto any different? Sighting of Akatsuki were not entirely rare -and truth be told, they had not been, and would not be, the last village to use Akatsuki for those tougher than most, no strings attached, impossible missions -not that she had hired Akatsuki for this to begin with.

But all these thoughts were just hypothetical. Clearly, Sakura had not a clue of what would truly happen in either case, whether she decided to go there or send out the letter as it was and suggest they come here instead.

By now, Konan and Kisame had heard of the news, and as such had filed into her office to discuss their options as she stared on and pondered her actions. "Although unlikely, there is a possible threat to your life if you go into enemy territory, that being Konoha, of course. Rumors of how you achieved your reputation have spread throughout the lands; Konoha is not an exception. If they for some reason see you as a threat and agree that the best way to take you out would be under their roof, there's no doubt in my mind they would accomplish it without us there to back you up. Maybe having them here would be the best." Konan reasoned.

"Regardless of the risk Oto may be in?" Kisame questioned. "I say to hell with all of them. This is clearly not genuine as it is." As he spoke he picked up Tsunade's letter for emphasis, and threw it precariously on the desk to show his distaste towards Tsunade's blatant bullshit formalities, as he saw it.

"I mean, I can't really blame her for her concern, can I? If she's heard of the rumors, of which I know she has, her hesitation to just leave us be is warranted." Sakura reasoned. "Besides. I know these people. They're not malicious in the slightest."

"You _knew_ these people, Sakura." Kisame corrected her with a small frown. "Trusting their judgement from that perspective can get you killed, and you know that." He couldn't say he wasn't unhappy or indifferent about Sakura's choice in words -they were her friends, not whatever shinobi had attempted to kill her and the nation that had abandoned her without hesitation.

Sakura frowned, knowing this to be true, but said nothing more on the matter. "Itachi, what are your thoughts?" she decidedly settled on -both Kisame and Konan had given their input on the matter after all, but she had yet to hear Itachi's.

"If you go there, you would be forcing us to go with you, just for security reasons. If they come here, we can keep a watchful eye on them from the background, if need be. If we plan their trip, they will only see what we want them to."

-And this was true. If she kept them on a strict itinerary, they wouldn't have enough time to roam off and see things that Sakura wasn't entirely sure she wanted them to see, not that this meant Sakura had anything super privy and lucrative in the village. Their votes had been casted, and with a sigh Sakura couldn't help but fold up the letter and seal it. "Send this out when you have the chance, Kisame."

Kisame nodded. "Hai." Regardless of whether or not he thought she was making a mistake, he would stand by her, just as Konan and Itachi would do.

* * *

After sending off the letter, Sakura had been left to herself to continue her daily duties, while Itachi went off to examine how Akira was fairing with hiring workers to do construction work for the Academy. Konan, on the other hand, had left to begin a new training regime, a new swarm of men and woman alike eager to study under the Nidaime Hokage herself and become newly branded shinobi. If only they had been that excited before, Sakura wouldn't have been struggling with under staffing currently, she couldn't help but think.

The sun had began to set by the time that Sakura was disturbed from her work, one blue-haired kunoichi appearing before her casually. "The recruits seem promising." she began, not needing any formal greeting with her close friend.

"I'm sure." Sakura smiled. "How many do we have this time?"

"Fifty eight." Konan replied curtly. "Almost three times as much as before."

"Well that's to be expected." Sakura sighed, putting down her pen momentarily. "Now that I'm actually known and trusted here, people will swarm. Have Itachi come with you next time to weed out some imposters, nee?" Sakura suggested.

"Hai. And of handling the workload?"

"Hmmmm, let's have Deidara and Kisame take fifteen each."

Konan chuckled. "Not Hidan?"

"Please. If I want half of them to be scared to death, then I'll consider Hidan." Sakura scoffed. "Anyway, I believe Kisame was making dinner for us tonight. Were you going back to the base, or did you want to join us?" As she said this she began to stack the paperwork together. Deceptive as it may first appear, Kisame had an act for cooking, his culinary skills nearly up to par with Sera's. It had become a hobby of his in recent years, one which neither Sakura, Konan, or Itachi were arguing against. Food was food, right?

"Nah, Nagato doesn't need me." Konan responded.

"Very well." And so, with a stack of paperwork in her hand, she and Konan walked out of her office, stopping momentarily over the receptionist desk where Sayaka sat, handling some paperwork. "Sayaka, if I can have you file this with the Daimyo tomorrow morning, that'd be great. Don't worry about filing the background checks Konan just gave you until tomorrow; they're not urgent, and there's a lot to work on."

Sayaka nodded, and with a small smile, stood to receive the paperwork Miyuki was handing to her. "Hai, arigatou Lady Miyuki. Have a good night."

"Hai, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for your hard work."

And with a formal goodbye, Konan and Sakura walked out of the Otokage tower, the sun nearly gone in the horizon, and the street light just starting to flicker on. By now, Sakura had removed her Kage attire, so she did not stand out as much among the villagers. But the ones who did recognize her smiled brightly and warmly and bowed in respect, greeting her quickly before continuing on with her busy night.

Eventually, Konan and Sakura made their way out of the village via the main road, and after a few minutes of walking there, shuffled into the thick forestry. It was not uncommon knowledge that the Nidaime Otokage lived outside of the village, so it was not uncommon to see her leave through the main gate every night, but no one knew where she went afterwards, not that anyone was curious or suspicious enough to find out.

* * *

"Kisame we're home." Sakura called out as she opened the door to her home, surprised but not at all opposed to the sight of Suki and Suzuki sitting down at the dinner table watching Kisame with mild intrigue -she would too, seeing as he now had a chef's hat on, and a too-small apron wrapped around his waist, courtesy of the two girls, she knew.

Both girls giggled and walked over to greet Konan and Sakura with a hug respectively. "Welcome home, Sakura-sama, Konan-senpai."

"Quit it with the -sama." Sakura scowled. Despite this, she adverted her gaze to Kisame. "How's dinner looking?"

"Just about ready." Kisame confirmed. He looked around to examine how many he would be serving. "No Itachi tonight?"

"He's handling business elsewhere with Akira-kun tonight. We should expect him late." Sakura simply explained.

"Ahh..." Kisame pressed no further. "Come help me set the table kids."

Upon first meeting and inherently getting to know Kisame, Sakura would never have expected for him to be so good with kids -or cooking. But it was unanimously decided by her group of Akatsuki friends: Kisame would make a great housewife. And although Kisame bickered against it and proclaimed he was simply good at everything he did -cooking and catering to kids included, they all knew that Kisame enjoyed this perhaps more than he should.

Before long, the food was set, a table for three, seeing as Suki and Suzuki had already eaten, and had simply wanted to enjoy Kisame's company. Casual conversation was exchanged between the five of them, the two girls eager to listen on to what Sakura was now working on. "And we'll be able to attend the academy too, right, Sakura-sama?"

Sakura smiled. "With your parent's blessings, of course." Sakura stated. "Why, you want to become shinobi now?"

"Of course! Sakura-sama is so cool! And Kisame-senpai, Konan-senpai, and Itachi-sama too!" Not that Sakura knew why, but apparently Itachi was on equal terms with her as far as endearments went -despite the years, the kids had never truly forgotten the small fairy tale that Sakura had told them, and despite the obvious indications that Sakura and Itachi were not, and would never be an item, they still liked to tease and secretly hope it would be a thing.

Sakura smiled and allowed for Kisame to gloat about how cool and strong he was, while her thoughts began to drift on other matters.

* * *

Tsunade frowned staring at the letter before her. Although she had expected a quick response, this was not at all the words she ad expected.

"This is clearly a trap Tsunade-sama." Shizune proclaimed with a frown. "It's too risky to send you out there alone."

Tsunade knew it could potentially be this, yes. But it was absurd for her to think she could call the Otokage here, and not be okay with the same actions being reciprocated to her. It would ascertain to the Nidame Otokage that Konoha did not view them as a neutral party, but rather an enemy, before they had even met or engaged in prior affairs, and that was not something that Tsunade was willing to let happen.

The Otokage was clearly not someone who bowed down easily, and that in itself made Tsunade think slightly more of her -whoever she was. For the little country of Sound to stand up to one of the world powers of Fire? It was impressive, and not something that Tsunade was willing to dismiss so quickly. But Shizune was right -it was downright foolish to send out Tsunade over there, but it did leave them with an advantage. If they acted quickly, the Otokage would not have enough time to hide anything from them. "I have to send a team in my stead." Tsunade determined with a thoughtful expression.

"But who?" Shizune frowned. This could, potentially, be like sending someone to their death -given, Oto never had the best reputation, and now it had none at all, having been completely cut out from the rest of the world for nearly three years.

Tsunade frowned -if she played this right, it would potentially truly show to her what Otogakure was made of, and who their alliances were to. "Bring in Kakashi for me, Shizune."

* * *

"Let me get this straight Tsunade-sama... You want to send our Jinchuuriki out to a country potentially, almost certainly, affiliated with the organization after his head?"

Tsunade sighed. "Well, when you put it that way, Sasuke, it does sound like a poor decision, but hear me out. By sending Naruto, this is the easiest and quickest way to either confirm or refute their rumored alliance with Akatsuki." Tsunade explained. "Strategic decision or not, Akatsuki will not pass up an easy chance to capture Naruto if the opportunity arose."

"So you want to potentially throw Naruto to the wolves." Sasuke corrected himself with a slight frown.

"Sasuke, I don't even see the big deal." The object of conversation finally spoke, his hands casually stuck in the pockets of his orange jumpsuit. "The Otokage is young too, isn't she? She won't be able to take us. And isn't it a reasonable enough assumption that since her village is new, her shinobi won't be up to standard with out caliber?" Naruto reasoned. His cocky comment put aside, because he had already expressed his desire to simply beat her in battle and take her title (which would in turn prove to Tsunade once and for all that he was ready for the Hokage title), there was much truth in his words.

"Yes, this would be an accurate assumption to make -if she doesn't have Akatsuki members residing in her village." Kakashi countered.

"Which is why I'm suggesting that we secretly bring back-up. A fail-safe, in case our suspicions are right to help get you guys out of the village safely if need be." Tsunade stated.

Kakashi contemplated this -not that he was at all concerned for his own safety, but he had already lost one student to Oto. Was he okay with risking his other? Regardless, it seemed this was not his call to make, seeing as Naruto had spoken up. "I will go, Tsunade. Rest-assured, everything will work out fine." Although he gave her a grin, as per usual to Naruto's antics, he seemed dead-set on accepting this mission, and Tsunade knew this went beyond him proving himself to her. Naruto had obtained a certain maturity over the years, a little more discrete than she would have guessed it to be, but he had taken it upon himself to make sure his friends were safe. And if this meant that he would have to reveal a potential threat a literally three to four hour travel from their home, then so be it.

Kakashi sighed, and with a shrug and a hand running through his hair, he relented, turning to Sasuke expectantly.

"Hn." he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. Truth be told, he hadn't stepped foot in Sound ever since that mission years ago -too many memories, all terrible in nature, lingered there, if not because of his time with Orochimaru, then because of all the blood he had seen coating the floor -Sakura's blood on the floor, and he dared not go back. "Let's get this over with then."

"As precautionary, I'd like to bring Sai and a medical ninja along."

"Saki?" Naruto questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Iee. I have Saki busy on another matter at the moment." Tsunade shook her head, and then promptly looked at Shizune, who understood in a heartbeat.

"Hai, I understand Tsunade-sama." She nodded -truth be told, she hadn't gone out on a mission in years, although this was not to mean that she had been slacking on her training at all.

Tsunade nodded in gratitude. "I'll return the letter to her accepting the invitation then. You'll leave tomorrow."

"Hai!"

"Hn."

* * *

 _Dear Otokage,_

 _Thank you for responding. I understand than you have obligations to your village; unfortunately, I too cannot leave my village at the time, although I will graciously accept your invitation of having a handful of my shinobi come in my stead. Hopefully, this will pave the way to us meeting sometime in the future. Following this message I will describe who and how many of my shinobi will be coming. Please confirm with me a meeting point for my shinobi to follow._

 _Best, Senju Tsunade_

* * *

Naruto kicked a pebble on the floor, dejectedly waiting for Kakashi to finish making preparations with Neji, who would in turn relay the plan to his squad. Sasuke had been sulking since the beginning of the mission, not that Naruto could blame him for it, but it simply meant more anti-social behavior for him to deal with on this mission -as if Sai wasn't bad enough as it was.

But at least he had Shizune, who although his senior by at least seven years, made for pleasant enough conversation although she too seemed on edge, given her long hiatus from missions. "Naruto-kun, stop that; you're sulking like a child." Shizune reprimanded.

"We've been here for almost an hour when Oto is just ten minutes away. What's taking so long?"

"We just want to make sure we're not walking into a trap Naruto-kun." Shizune frowned. Could he not see that they were doing this for no one but him? Then again, Naruto had always been brainless and not to mention reckless; now would be no different. "I'm sure it wont be too much longer."

And true to her word, almost immediately after Neji and Kakashi nodded at each other and finally parted ways, Neji almost instantly disappearing towards the direction of his squad, not that Naruto paid too much attention to it. "Let's hurry along now, lest we arrive late."

"Who's meeting us?" Sasuke asked, kicking himself off the tree he had been leaning on to finally begin their journey once more.

"The Otokage herself, along with a couple of her shinobi, so Tsunade-sama informed us." Shizune explained. They would meet right in front of the village gates and from there onward be escorted to her office to continue the formalities. "At the very least she's going out of her way to meet us; that's awful courteous."

"Well, first impressions are often the most important." Kakashi hummed out. "I'm sure she wouldn't want strangers walking into her village without her first meeting them, nonetheless."

Then again, they weren't particularly strangers to the Otokage, not that they knew otherwise.

* * *

"I humbly welcome you to my home, Konohagakure shinobi-san."

Kakashi blinked, quietly taking in the sights before him -he had never imagined Oto to appear as it did. Clearly she had been busy, although construction was clearly apparent even from his place at the entrance of it.

"It is an honor to finally meet you, Nidaime Otokage." Kakashi stated respectfully, he and his team bowing before her. He could see beside her but three shinobi, two female and one male.

"Please. You may call me Miyuki." She stated; even if she said this to try and show some sort of friendly air between the two, her body remain hidden behind the heavy cloak she wore, her face masked nearly entirely by her Kage hat. "These here are a few of my shinobi. Sayaka, Konan, and Akira. If you may find yourself in need of anything during your stay, you may come to them for aid." As she spoke their names the aforementioned shinobi bowed respectfully.

"I am Hatake Kakashi. Uchiha Sasuke, Kato Shizune, and Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi greeted formally, not at all missing the fact that none of her shinobi, her included, had been named with a surname. Either they simply didn't have one, or they preferred to remain ambiguous, and he was sure it to be the latter.

"If you will follow us, I'll lead you to my office where we can continue our introductions and talk about what I have planned for you during your stay. The walk is not too long." As she said this she turned, her shinobi following behind her shortly afterwards. And so the Konoha shinobi followed silently behind the four shinobi, although the exchanged curious and speculative glances with each other -why was she not showing her face? Although it was not a big deal, it did come off slightly rude, and Kakashi knew she knew this too.

True to her word, the walk was not long as they approached a small, round building which reminded them a lot of Konoha's own Hokage's office. "I apologize for the construction going on. We're currently in the midst of beginning a Ninja Academy, so I'd appreciate if you guys not wander around this place too much; the rest of the village, other than the Northern part, is pretty much completed in terms of roads and buildings though."

"Of course, Miyuki-san." Kakashi stated courteously.

No more words were spoken between the two groups until Miyuki was finally settled in her seat with her shinobi beside her, and the Konoha shinobi before her respectfully. If they had expected for Miyuki to finally remove her cloak and headgear now, it didn't happen.

"Was your journey pleasant? Could I perhaps interest you in some water?" Miyuki began.

"None is necessary, thank you." Shizune replied with a small smile.

"Very well then." Miyuki nodded, her hands appearing from her cloak and settling for folding over her desk. "I will not beat around the bush, then. You guys have come here because you are concerned over my rumored affiliation with Akatsuki, no?"

Although none of them reacted, Kakashi could not deny that he was surprised he would bring this up so quickly after their arrival. "Is this really the appropriate time to bring this up, Miyuki-san? We have just arrived-" Kakashi was also not one to beat around the bush, and especially in respecting someone he hadn't deemed worth it yet, so he was glad that Shizune stepped in when she had, but he had not at all expected the response.

"It seems as an appropriate time as ever. How can you feel safe walking around my village if you don't trust its very foundation?" Miyuki quickly replied.

It was a reasonable argument, Kakashi supposed, but he had to admit he respected this blunt side of the Otokage. "Very well. You clearly know why we have our qualms in sending our Hokage here. We do believe you to be affiliated with Akatsuki."

"I will not lie to you, Hatake-san. We were not able to restore Oto to its former glory and obtain so much more without help." Miyuki admitted. "But I can personally assure you that my goals do not coincide with that of Akatsuki's. All I wanted was what was best for my village, and if that meant assuring that Akatsuki would not harm my people, then so be it. I have heard of their reputation and heard what they have done to other small villages, after all, and wanted to guarantee that the same fate did not await my newly formed nation. I have simply waited too long and worked too hard to let my efforts, and the efforts of my people, go to waste." Miyuki stated, pausing for a moment's notice to let the information sink in. "Although my word in itself may not seem like much to you right now, it is all I can give you. Hopefully within the span of your stay here, and hopefully within any future interactions, you will learn that you can trust my word."

"It's hard to trust someone whose face we cannot even see." It was Sasuke who suddenly spoke, his snide remark nearly snorted out in irritation.

Miyuki was nearly surprised, but could not comment, as Akira had already done a fine enough job of doing that. "I will not allow you to speak to Lady Miyuki that way; you will apologize for your insolence at once. Frankly, you do not deserve to see her if you have come to our village to accuse her." Although his face was scowled in anger, it was his words that held the most impact to the Konoha bunch.

Even so, Miyuki lifted her hand to silence him at once; although grateful for his words, this was not a battle she could not fight herself.

"It's okay Akira-kun. At ease." After directing her statement towards her blue-haired shinobi, she once more addressed the Konoha group. "I can see how this would be concerning." Sakura agreed. "I am a potential enemy so close to Konoha, a village containing one of the last remaining Jinchuuriki, right?" clearly, this question was not meant to be answered. "Although, this does make me wonder why it would be that you would bring him directly to my doorstep if you thought me a threat." Although they couldn't see it, they could hear the smug, confident tone in her voice and knew by this that she was smirking.

"I can take care of myself, Miyuki." Naruto retorted with a small snarl.

"Oh, I don't doubt it, Uzumaki Naruto-kun." Miyuki taunted, clearly pleased with his reaction. "So certainly the two ANBU teams stationed outside of my village in case of a trap seems a little much to you, doesn't it?"

Shizune's heart dropped to her stomach, and almost immediately they all seemed to tense up.

 _How could she have discovered them so soon? Neji's Team and Sai's team respectively were the best!_

Miyuki could clearly see them begin to worry, and couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Oh, not to worry Hatake-san. I understand and sympathize with you; your precaution is justified. I will remain true to my word; I do not care for an unnecessary fight. As capable as my shinobi are, I do not care to put them in harms way." As she said this she stood and approached the window to her office, glancing at her village.

"I would die for you if need be, Lady Miyuki." Akira, never one to hold back on his thoughts, quickly spoke.

Once more, Miyuki let out a small laugh as she approached Akira and lovingly ruffled his hair. "I would be a terrible Kage if I allowed my shinobi to enter an unnecessary battle, Akira-kun." After saying this, she made her way around her office desk to address Team Kakashi fully. "You can stay here as long as you'd like, but since construction is still underway, I only have enough room to house the number of shinobi that Tsunade had mentioned beforehand, not your other ANBU companions. Sayaka and Akira here will escort you to your sleeping quarters during your stay, and will also inform you when dinner will be served. Unfortunately, any further conversation with me will have to wait until tomorrow; I have a prior engagement I must attend to for tonight, and as such will be unable to entertain you tonight."

"We understand, Miyuki-san." Kakashi nodded tersely. "Arigatou."

Miyuki smiled, clearly pleased. "Then I will see you all tomorrow. Sayaka-chan, make sure you explain to them the itinerary for tomorrow. If you will excuse me."

"Hai, of course Miyuki-sama."

The older female shinobi with blue hair filed out of the room behind the Otokage, bowing to the Konoha shinobi before exiting the door and shutting it closed behind her.

The silence between the duo stretched for a few minutes, until they were out of the building and on their way to the forest around them. "I'd say things went well." Konan began casually.

"As well as they could have." Sakura agreed, her face expression serious and thoughtful. "Tell Itachi to inform me once the ANBU teams leave Oto territory and continue to keep an eye on Kakashi's bunch."

"Hai." Konan stated without hesitation. "Will you be going to Sera's tonight?"

"Hai. Shall I tell her to save a plate for you tonight?"

"Iee. I shall eat out."

"Very well. I will see you tomorrow morning then. Oyasuminasai, Konan."

* * *

Team Kakashi hadn't eased or had any semblance of relaxation until Akira and Sayaka had dropped them off at their sleep quarters. After Sayaka had explained that they would have a tour of the city in the morning and then meet the Otokage for lunch, Sayaka and Akira had left, but not before the boy had managed to slip in one more condescending comment. "Make sure to remove your shinobi from our borders please. You won't like Lady Miyuki when she's upset." And with that, they had excused themselves and retired to their homes for the night.

" _You won't like Lady Miyuki when she's upset_." Naruto repeated childishly, mocking Akira with a high-pitched tone. "Who does that brat even think he is?" he frowned, clearly irritated. "And how did that old hag even find them to begin with?" Naruto couldn't help but wonder.

"Old hag? Do you even know how old she is, Naruto-kun?" Shizune raised a curious eyebrow.

"What does it matter? She acts like one." he pouted.

"Yes, but given the fact that she hid herself the entire time, she could be Kakashi's age for all we know." Sasuke stated.

"Exactly. Old." Naruto stated, almost as if it were obvious.

"I'm Kakashi's age Naruto-kun." Shizune glared, not at all caring that he had offended Kakashi, but more than he had indirectly offended her.

"Whatever." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Are we just going to let her get away with holing us up in this place until she has enough time for us? Tsunade warned her in advance; you would think she would free up her schedule for us."

"We are not as important as you think we are, Naruto." Kakashi stated with a sigh. "Kages have responsibilities. Clearly she has her agenda full with all the projects she as going on in the village. The construction we've seen here is probably just on the surface of the things she's dealing with."

"Whatever. She just confirmed her affiliation with Akatsuki to us –why are we still here? We confirmed what we came here to. She's an enemy."

"Not necessarily, Naruto-kun. She is saying she made a deal to stay out of harm's way, and said her goals do not coincide with that of Akatsuki's. All she's done is given herself deniability, and we are in no position to ask her of the details of her contract, whether verbal or written, with them." Shizune explained.

"Only Tsunade has any right to ask this of her." Kakashi agreed with a nod. She said exactly what she needed to –enough to place herself as a neutral party, but not enough to fully understand her relationship to Akatsuki –this would be something Tsunade had to do.

"She's politically well-versed." Sasuke commented with a small frown. "She's definitely a lot smarter than I expected."

"Well, I'd suspect she'd have to be if she's dealing with Akatsuki." Kakashi stated, finally taking a look around their suite. It was nice enough, nothing to luxurious but pretty in its simplicity, something they could almost expect to find in Konoha, really.

"For now, it does us no good to dwell on this. We won't know more about her until we see her once more tomorrow."

"We'll know all we need to know about her if I can just fight her –in fact, if I beat her then she'll know not to-"

"You will not, under any circumstances, spar with the Otokage Naruto-kun." Shizune glared. "Tsunade-sama has already expressly told you this is a bad idea, and I will not allow you to go against her instructions."

"I can't see how." Naruto frowned. This was the easiest way to know what they were dealing with, after all.

"Because we don't know for sure that she won't aim to kill, Naruto no baka." Sasuke frowned. "And if she will then I can guarantee you Akatsuki will be there to pick up what's left of you."

Naruto grumbled incoherent words for a while. "Whatever. Let me know when they come and get us for dinner." He finally settled on, walking away to find a room.

Shizune sighed, watching Naruto's retreating figure until it was out of sight behind a door, and then turned back to Kakashi. "In any case, we should call Neji and Sai's teams back. It won't do us any good to have them there any longer."

"I suppose so." Kakashi mumbled, ruffling his hand through his messy silver locks -this mission was already starting to develop into something he hadn't quite expected.

* * *

"Good morning Hatake-san, Kato-san." It was bright and early in the morning when a knock had interrupted both shinobi from their respective breakfasts (brought to them an hour before by Sayaka), and Kakashi had come to find with mild surprise (having expected the same two shinobi who dropped them off here the afternoon prior) that it was the elder kunoichi; Konan if he remembered correctly.

"Ohayo, Konan-san." Shizune greeted with a small smile.

"As Sayaka informed you last night, Miyuki-sama wishes to give you all a tour of the village in the morning."

Kakashi nodded, stepping aside of the doorway to allow the kunoichi in.

"Naruto's a bit of a late bird, so he just got up. Sasuke should be getting out of the shower anytime now." He explained dutifully, returning back to his breakfast, alongside Shizune, who was already showered and ready for their plans.

"Hn." And just as he spoke, Sasuke came out of the doorway, properly dressed but with a towel draped across his shoulders. "And I don't suppose the Otokage will be joining us for the tour?"

Konan shook her head. "She is needed elsewhere, training our new regime of shinobi; in fact she's been up since dusk training them. She will be joining you for lunch after the tour, though." Konan explained.

"A training regime? Does she not have other shinobi who could attend to this matter?" Shizune asked, curious in knowing why she had not delegated this work to someone else.

"Miyuki-sama is very adamant in getting to know all of the shinobi who will work under her on a personal level -she believes direct contact and communication with them will help to further show them how much each of them mean to her, and she could personally see the progress that each individual is making. As you know, we have yet to fully organize a Ninja Academy, so for now we take volunteers and train them ourselves."

"That's very noble of her." Shizune commented with a small smile.

"Hai. Miyuki-sama may not be the most practical, but this is why the people love her so much." Konan showed an earnest smile -truth be told, she was envious of Sakura's innate ability of connecting to people and being able to have them trust her so whole-heartedly. Without her she was sure these plans would have not amounted to much.

"That sounds a little like Tsunade-sama." Shizune chuckled slightly. Although different in character, once Tsunade had resumed responsibility over Konoha, she had gotten involved in every aspect of its politics, and had worked tirelessly to pick up the mess that Orochimaru had left after the assassination of Sarutobi.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Miyuki-sama often praises the work Senju Tsunade has done over the years; not just her reign as Hokage, but prior to that as well." Shizune and Kakashi were both surprised to hear this, but did not let the comment affect them, or alter their opinion of Miyuki just yet. "Anyhow, as far as the tour goes, is there any particular place you'd like to visit first?"

"Iee. Whatever you have planned for us will be just fine."

"Hai. I will go to confirm with Miyuki-sama real quick and return. Hopefully by then Uzumaki Naruto-san will have emerged from the shower." And so Konan once more dismissed herself, bowing before walking away from the three Konoha shinobi.

* * *

The tour had started at the outskirts of the village and had progressively gotten deeper and deeper. And through it all, none of them had truly expected to find Oto as prosperous as it seemed. Even to them, strange shinobi with a foreign hitai-ate, the first of its kind of years they were sure, the villagers seemed friendly, waving and bowing respectfully to the likes of Konan and her companions. There was a bustle in this town that could only be fueled by one thing, and it was clear to all of them immediately.

Commerce.

"Was Oto at all like this when you were living here, Sasuke?" Naruto couldn't help but comment, noticing that the streets were clean, the villagers friendly, and a busy sort of bustle surrounding them -commerce.

"Iee. These streets were filled with run down homes and littered with homeless." Sasuke admitted reluctantly -he was not proud of his past, but he could not hide from it. Although the thought bothered him now, he knew that nearing a decade ago he wouldn't even have batted an eyelash at the impoverished living of the hundreds in Oto.

"Miyuki has done much to cure the ailments of this town; poverty and homelessness included." Konan stated with a small smile. "By building roads and other homes, not only was she able to house many, but also give jobs to the many that had none. It truly helped to pick up the economy in these parts. In addition, she's in the midst of creating a building for a newly established list of Elders, all of nin-shinobi status, for villagers to list their grievances and for Miyuki-sama to have a better understand of what is afflicting them. It will help her better understand her villagers and act accordingly. A form of a just democracy, you could say."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "This must not have been an easy feat. Orochimaru's forces still ran rampant until just recently, did they not?" It was one of the reasons that Konoha hardly stepped foot in Oto unless absolutely necessary, after all.

"Hai; Miyuki and a handful of her shinobi, the first to have joined her militia, saw to it that they were taken care of." Konan nodded.

"Yourself included, I suppose?" Kakashi responded, glancing at the female shinobi, the so to speak right hand of Miyuki. Clearly, it took time and trust to give her that position, which made Kakashi realize that Konan was as good as any to give them information about the origins of Miyuki.

"Hai. I was among the group of shinobi who initially trained with Miyuki's first regime. A product of which are Akira-kun and Sayaka, among a few handful more."

"And where are they?" Sasuke asked, intrigued.

"Most are handling other administrative jobs around Konoha. A few unfortunately were KIA in between our duties, an unfortunate but not unlikely ending in our line of work, as I'm sure you know. But most of everyone else either works in the Otokage building alongside Sayaka, or are currently helping to properly administer the hospital until Miyuki-sama has time to properly training medical ninja."

"So Miyuki is a medic-nin, then?" Kakashi asked, surprised -he would not have pegged her as one, but it was good information to know.

"It is one of her many skills, although not something she is renown for like your Senju Tsunade. Miyuki-sama has trained to make herself versatile in any and all fields, to best protect the village and her people during the first few and inherently toughest years of her reign."

"So what would you say her specialty lies in?" Shizune asked curiously.

"You will have to ask her for yourselves during your lunch with her if you wish to know the answer." Konan stated with a small smile. "Despite me having been with her for years, I have yet to truly see Miyuki-sama's true capabilities in battle." Although this was entirely a lie, they didn't need to know that. But truthfully speaking, Konan had no business giving them information on Miyuki, not that she even wanted to; she was simply being cordial.

"I understand." Kakashi let the conversation drop. Not much else was spoken among the group of shinobi until Konan had led them to their final destination on the tour, the hospital.

"It is still under a provisional period of administering until Miyuki-sama can properly train medics and advance their skill level to the appropriate level, but it is running functionally with its basic requirements." Konan began as they roamed down the main hallways and corridors, only Shizune taking a real interest in it compared to her three male teammates.

"I must commend you for the progress here; it truly is amazing." It was more than Shizune had expected to find, even if Miyuki herself had background knowledge of medical ninjutsu. She had not truly expected to find it so technologically advanced and up to date with medical labs and equipment. It had taken Tsunade nearly the same amount of time to get it at such a technologically advanced level, and it was through this that Shizune finally understood the true role of Akatsuki in Miyuki's agenda.

Money.

They were behind all of this funding, if such a fast development was an indication of anything, and it was surprising to be able to acknowledge the fact that, for whatever reason, Akatsuki had done something not completely despicable. The thought was confusing in and of itself, and it led to Shizune wondering what exactly Miyuki had promised them in return.

Her thoughts darkened as her eyes flashed towards Naruto.

One could only hope.

"Hai. This was one of Miyuki-sama's first initial projects, among securing the safety of our borders and stabilizing the health of the villagers." Konan explained. The tour ended not much after, and as they exited the hospital Konan began to take them elsewhere. "Miyuki-sama has already arranged a lunch at one of her favorite spots. I will escort you to her, and from there onward you will be under the care of Miyuki-sama and Akira-kun."

"Hai. Thank you for showing us around the village." Shizune spoke politely.

"Iee. It was no problem."

No more words were spoken with the exception of Sasuke and Naruto conversing, until Konan had led them out of the village and up a windy, lusciously green hill. The forestry here disappeared altogether to leave a large area perfect for a training field, of which they were starting to understand it was, but under the cool shade of a tree lie a white, intricately designed steel table, and its adorning chairs, one already occupied.

They approached the table, watching as Konan bowed to her Kage respectfully and began to spoke. "Good afternoon, Miyuki-sama."

"Good afternoon Konan." Miyuki was casually sitting on one of the chairs, her hand gentle grasping a cup filled with tea. "I take it the tour went well, Hatake-san?"

"Hai." Kakashi nodded but said nothing else, noticing that, despite the sunny and relatively warm day, here Miyuki was, still entirely covered by the very same hat and heavy tunic as the afternoon prior.

Although he and the likes of Shizune and Sasuke were more than capable of hiding their confusion and some could even call it irritation, Naruto clearly was now. But how was this his fault? By not even giving them the respect of speaking to her face to face, she was essentially making it clear that formal face to face contact was beneath her -that they were beneath her, and it infuriated him.

Although he grumbled to himself, Sasuke had given him a pointed look, and then followed Kakashi and Shizune into sitting down alongside her. Lunch began very calmly between the group, Konan standing casually in the sidelines behind her Kage.

"I must say I am very impressed by how much you've gotten done around the village in such a short amount of time, Miyuki -especially with the hospital. How did you manage such a feat?" Shizune began casually, although her true reasons were because of her suspicions of this being Akatsuki's doing.

"I happen to be a fan of your Hokage, and think her advocating a shinobi's health on and off the field was detrimental to your victory of the war. I am not opposed to learning from previous generation's failures and successes. Tsunade revolutionized the shinobi world, and I think having an efficient hospital is the key to success. As such, I followed much in the footsteps that she took and applied it to my own nation." Miyuki stated casually.

"So you must be a very efficient medic-nin, then." Kakashi stated, knowing for a fact that Konoha had only become so advanced because of Tsunade's teachings.

"In my own respects sure. I would not consider myself anywhere near as efficient as Tsunade is, though." Miyuki stated. "The cause of its advancement is simply because of all the hard work not only myself, but my shinobi have put into this project. Although it is but a week into my role as Otokage, I have been working relentlessly to ease the economic hardships of my people for the past three years."

"And how old does that put you, Miyuki?" Kakashi asked.

Miyuki let out a small laugh. "I'd reckon I'm as old as your two students here, Hatake-san. Why, do I seem older?"

"Well we wouldn't know. Given that you haven't showed us your face and all, you know." Naruto retorted.

Kakashi glanced at Naruto pointedly. "What my young and politically incorrect student hear means to say, is that this seems like such an extremely young age to take on the title of Otokage, don't you think?"

"I suppose." Miyuki contemplated this. "But age has nothing to do with your ability to run a nation, Hatake-san. I'm sure you know that. I am strong, loyal to my people, and smart enough to lead this nation in the right direction. Plus, Sunagakure's Kazekage happens to be younger than myself, is he not? Not to mention that he ascended to his throne many years before myself."

"Yeah, but Gaara is a Jinchuuriki -his strength already exceeds most shinobi simply because of that fact." Sasuke countered.

"Exactly. You can't possibly be any stronger than myself if you're my age. I'd even bet I can beat you easily." And here Naruto was once more, haughtily proclaiming in superiority over the female Kage as he leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms behind his head casually. Although this very statement made his companions tense, Miyuki seemed to have taken this with stride.

"Oh, is that so?" She couldn't help from containing her laughter. _'This is so typical of Naruto...'_ she couldn't help but think as she glanced his way. "I've heard rumors of you, Uzumaki Naruto-kun." Intrigued, Naruto casually peeked one eye open. "You're a reckless shinobi. You'll need to tone it down if you want to ever reach the same level of prestige as me."

This had not at all been what Naruto had expected, and angrily he leaned forward, his hand tightening into a fist. "I'll be a great Hokage one day. I'm strong enough now." he argued.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Naruto. You're extremely skilled and loyal -but Kages need to remain level-headed at all time. Although you are loyal you fight with no regards to those around you -in that way, you're actually quite selfish. You don't know when to listen or when to be quiet or even when to follow orders, my point made by this small interaction now. If you can't follow protocol your shinobi will lose trust in you and follow suit. Your teammate Sasuke here will end up stealing your position from right under your nose if you're not careful. And regardless -you are a fool if you think you can defeat me, Naruto-kun." she taunted him.

With every statement, his grip on his fist got tighter and tighter, and by the last comment he had stood up violently.

 _He'd show her how strong he was-_

He had struck (had at least tried to), with absolutely no intention on actually hitting her, but merely to show her that he was a force to be reckoned with. His chakra spiked slightly, clearly visible on his fist, and its force was enough to fling Miyuki's hat directly off her head and onto the floor, but she sat there unflinchingly, staring directly into Naruto's heated eyes with a completely nonchalant expression. Beside her Konan stood, her hand preventing Naruto's own fist from moving even a centimeter closer even if he wanted to. But even in simply staring at her eyes he hesitated and tensed.

 _Her agility what the-_

"My subordinate was able to predict your attack and block you with ease. Don't tell me that's all you have in you?" And there she was again with her taunting, paying no importance to the fact that her hat lay upside down on the floor or that her long blonde hair, pinned up into a messy bun, now lay visible to the Konoha nin.

He frowned and was about to retort her and perhaps even tell her to fight him fully, but Kakashi stood up immediately and grasped him by the arm and yanked him backwards, to the point where he fell backwards onto his seat. "Okay, that's enough, don't you think Naruto-kun." He had a very fake smile plastered onto his face, indicated by his eye crease, although Naruto this meant murder for him behind closed doors. "I'm sorry about this, Miyuki-san, truly..-"

But finally his gaze actually fell on her and her jade eyes, and his heart skipped a beat.

 _'Sak-'_

"You should put your shinobi on a tighter leash, Hatake-san." This was not Miyuki who spoke, but rather Konan, who withdrew her hand but allowed her glare to linger on Naruto.

Kakashi blinked; once, twice, looking from Konan back to Miyuki for another second, before withdrawing. _'No.'_ he told himself sternly. _'It only looks like her.'_ Miyuki was frigid, her eyes cold and now holding the same warm glow that Sakura's always had. Despite the fact that their eyes seemed near identical, there was something in them that screamed stranger to him, and he was almost embarrassed to have been caught up in the moment.

Truthfully speaking though, he had not been the only one.

"Gomenasai." Kakashi apologized humbly, hoping that they hadn't already ruined all chances at some sort of amiable lunch together.

"Don't worry too much about it. I expected something like this to happen eventually, knowing if his reputation." Miyuki once more leaned back on her chair.

"You seem to know a lot about my team, Miyuki." Kakashi stated casually.

"You're not exactly not known by the entire Shinobi Lands, Hatake-san. Your team is far from normal; you are all legends in your own respects." Miyuki reasoned. And this was something that Kakashi could not deny. Still, Sakura couldn't help but think it amusing that Kakashi was inconspicuously trying to learn more about her -but she had trained under Itachi for far too long to fall for that.

"Pardon my line of questioning Miyuki, but is that a Hundred Year Seal on your forehead, Miyuki?" Shizune suddenly spoke, having been the first (between Sasuke and Naruto) to recover from the ordeal, but not missing the small purple-like diamond on her forehead.

Miyuki smile slightly. "Like I said, Kato-san. I am a fan of Tsunade's teachings. I am exceptionally skilled at analyzing the inner workings of a jutsu or technique. As such, I was able to understand the principles behind Tsunade's technique and did so for myself. But enough about me; what is life in Konoha like?" Alas, this was the only way to shift the conversation topic away from her, it seemed.

Tensions seemed to die down a little from there, although Naruto and Sasuke spoke not a word for the remainder of the time, Naruto partially embarrassed by his outburst and partially disbelieving of the initial similarity between Miyuki and the Sakura he had once known and loved, and Sasuke perhaps going through that very same confusion.

Promptly after lunch was over, Miyuki began to stand and regather her Kage hat long forgotten on the floor. "Although this has been a pleasant lunch, our time together must end here. I have some paperwork to deal with at my office, and as such cannot be away for too long. Konan here will escort you back to the hotel, or wherever else you guys may feel like visiting. If you require something from me, you know where to find me and are free to come and go as you'd like. If not, Akira will show up by your hotel in about an hour or two to cater to your needs if you require anything."

Although decidedly upset that they had no more time to spend with her (and inherently could not learn more about her), Kakashi nodded wordlessly as Shizune thanked her for the lunch, and watched as she disappeared in a puff of smoke after exchanging a few words with Konan. Afterwards, said kunoichi turned to them with a small smile. "If you will follow me, I will escort you back to your rooms, then."

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

 **So, this is basically where the two versions of this story split. Where as in the other one Sakura went to Konoha, in this version she had them come to her, for any of those who are interested in reading both versions.**

 **Sorry it took me a while to get this chapter out. Been busy, hopefully the next chapter won't take me nearly as long to finish.**

 **The next projects I plan to work on are some more revisions of Sakura's New Past, a new installment to Sakura's New Present, and Somewhere We Belong respectively. I'm going to predict that, if I continue with my plan of updating both TNO versions together, it'll take me about 2-3 months to come out with chapter 3. But I have a lot of it already pre-planned so we'll see.**

 **Reviews last chapter were pleasant (but not as pleasant as the Itachi version, although I had expected this). Thank you for the feedback, and I hope to hear from you guys again c:**


	3. Spar

**Hi everyone! Sorry it's taken me such a long time to update this. But on the plus side, chapter 3 is finally out, hopefully the next chapter won't take me nearly as long to write up and post.**

 **Without further ado,**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.**

 **Chapter 3: Spar**

"You know you could have cost us Miyuki's trust, right?" It was not just Kakashi, but Shizune reprimanding Naruto for his idiocy immediately after arriving at their sleeping quarters -needless to say, it was pure restraint on their behalf (and the fact that neither of them were Tsunade) that Naruto had not been beaten halfway back to Konoha already.

Naruto huffed indignantly. "Come on, you can't tell me she didn't deserve that." his hands were crossed across his chest in a defensive manner as he accepted the backlash he had honestly expected.

" _Of course_ it was deserved, although you should have known better than to act upon it to begin with. She was clearly baiting you, Naruto-kun. She was riling you up to show you your weakness, and to be able to take advantage of it." Shizune frowned. At least now, if formalities failed for some reason, Miyuki could just as easily say it was because Tsunade's shinobi attacked her, and it would wash her hands clean over the matter. And that was something that Naruto had to hold over his head if it ever came down to it.

"Okay, I fucked up, I got it." Naruto scowled. "What do we do now?"

"Make sure you don't make the same mistake a second time." Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes slightly.

"We'll worry about fixing it; you just need to not screw up." Kakashi sighed. "For now, let's wait it out and make sure she's not upset."

And so it had been, and for over an hour the four of them simply lounged around their hotel suite, if only to kill time. It wasn't until Kakashi approached Sasuke, who had been laying down on his bed, that Sasuke knew that Kakashi had thought of something, and curiously he stared at his sensei.

"What if we send you to talk to her?"

Sasuke blinked, not understanding his statement for a long time. Him? Just him? "Why?" he frowned distastefully. Kakashi of all people knew Sasuke was not the most social of people. Could he be diplomatic if need be? Certainly. But this wasn't about diplomacy; this was about coaxing her to be in her good graces again. And he didn't do well with kissing somebody's ass (Kakashi, as his teacher for several years, could attest to such a thing).

"Clearly, Miyuki is around your age. "Needless to say, she might fall for your... err... _charm._ " Kakashi suggested -not that he knew exactly what Sasuke's so-called "Charm" was, because he had only ever known Sasuke as the brooding teenager that he was, but regardless, women of all ages seemed to flock to him whenever he was around. "It may help to ease whatever tensions Naruto must have created and might help us further reveal more about her." Kakashi explained.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow in question. "I don't particularly believe someone of her stature would fall for simple flattery, Kakashi."

"Probably not. But a dumb attempt is better than no attempt at this point." Kakashi relented with a sigh. "I'd have Naruto go but he's bound to simply fall for her games again. Plus he lacks a certain finesse and charm you seem to possess with the ladies."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood from his bed. "Fine, I'll go." Begrudgingly, he would comply to his former sensei's request, if only because it irked him greatly that she seemed to know much about them and they knew absolutely nothing about her. Sasuke excused himself then, and exited the hotel room before Naruto even realized he was gone -surely Naruto would complain that Sasuke was chosen over him, and the Uchiha had not the patience to deal with his blonde counterpart right now.

He had walked in the direction that he had recalled they had come from, and even though the villagers seemed curious about him, none were malicious or scared in the slightest, some greeting him with smiles and others with blatant hello's and bows of respect. Clearly, they had no reason to fear him, and he had a feeling it was because they blindly trusted Miyuki to not let anyone in the village who would mean any harm to them.

He had found his way easily enough, and as he had made his way to her office, he had found her secretary still there, doing away with a stack of paperwork. She had sensed the nin before seeing him, so as he had approached her there had already been a smile on her face. "Uchiha Sasuke-san, right?"

Sasuke nodded wordlessly.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, kind enough, the smile still plastered on her face.

"I was hoping to have a word with the Otokage." he motioned towards her office, just meters away from him.

"Of course." Sayaka seemed to chuckle. "She actually just stepped out for a quick break. You can find her on the roof, or you can wait for her here, if you'd like."

"Arigatou." Sasuke nodded; deciding he didn't particularly care to wait, he had instead made his way to the stairs which Sayaka had directed him to, and proceeded to make his way to the roof.

* * *

She had sensed the young Uchiha approaching her long before he had began to climb up the stairs to the rooftop. In fact, she had seen him walk into the building, and had been following his chakra signature with some sort of tense foreboding. For Sasuke to be here, she knew it could only be for one reason only -it sure as hell wasn't to talk to Sayaka.

When he had finally emerged from the door, Miyuki had not bothered to turn to greet him, even if she knew he was there, and he knew she knew he was there. "If you've come here to apologize on your teammate's behalf, it really wasn't necessary, Uchiha-san. I am willing to admit I pushed him to have that reaction if only for my own amusement."

Well, at least she was being honest, Sasuke couldn't help but think with an internal snort. "Even if that were to be the case, my sensei would still have forced me to come nonetheless." Sasuke was glad (not that he would admit it) that it seemed Miyuki could care less for the formalities. She was right to the point, and it greatly relieved Sasuke -Kami knew he was the worst at kissing somebody's ass.

"I suppose he would have." Miyuki let out a small chuckle, sensing as Sasuke approached her casually. He appeared alongside her after a few short strides, his hands shoved into his pockets carelessly, a bored, irritated expression on his face. "So what actually brings you here, if you don't mind divulging your sensei's secret agenda?"

"You tell me, Miyuki-sama." As he spoke, he turned around and allowed his body to lean against the metal railing behind him, facing the direct opposite direction of the Otokage, although inwardly curious about Miyuki and her appearance.

"Well considering he sent you and not Kato-san or himself, I'd say he wanted an attractive male to try and coax information out of me, and he thought himself too old for me -either that or he was simply too lazy to do it himself. How spot on am I, Uchiha-san?"

Sasuke could have sighed -and by the mere "Tch" he let out in irritation, Miyuki knew she was spot on. Why was the Otokage able to read them like an open book? As if she was already five steps ahead of them? Knowing about them, their flaws, their weaknesses -how to push their buttons, not to mention. "You know too much." he addressed her with the irritation he had been hiding so efficiently up until now.

But Miyuki could only chuckle at this. "I make it my business to know those who enter my village, Uchiha-san. Plus, last I recall, you have your own history etched into these walls. I only have to look around the corner to find out about you." she glanced his way as she spoke this, not that this had allowed the Uchiha a glimpse of her features.

"That's not a past I'm willing to discuss." his tone clipped in icily.

"Nor am I asking you to." Miyuki responded calmly. "I have no interest in your past -but I do find it intriguing that you wish to know about mine without divulging your own. It does seem a little hypocritical, does it not?"

Sasuke shifted awkwardly (she had a point, not that this meant he was willing to bend in the slightest), but Miyuki could only stifle a laugh. "At the end of the day, Uchiha-san, I want you guys to be able to trust my word. Whatever it is you want to know, I will reveal to you, so long as it helps you trust me." she finally settled on, even if she had the logical argument.

Sasuke took this statement with stride. Miyuki had just given him the power in asking what he wanted -but he had to be careful with this. "Are you of Otogakure descent?" Because if she were, it was possible that he had come across her before while he was staying here with Orochimaru, and that would certainly narrow it down.

"Iee." she stated calmly.

"Then why do all this for a village constructed off of the lies of Orochimaru?" Sasuke questioned with confused eyes.

"Because these people needed my help, Uchiha-san." Miyuki sighed. "And out of good faith, I could not turn my back on them, knowing I could do something about it." As she said this, she motioned towards the city before her, forcing Sasuke to turn around and face the same direction. "When I came here the city was impoverished -as I'm sure you last recall. People were afraid to walk the streets; bandits and Orochimaru's ex-militia were at every corner... It was a dangerous place -I'm sure you don't need to be told: you've experienced this personally."

Sasuke's heart clenched uncomfortably, not that he would allow Miyuki to see his pain. He knew exactly what she was talking about: why she knew about Sakura he didn't know, but he would not bring attention to it. "Hn." he moved on impassively.

"During my travels, I spent some time here in Oto -and I met some wonderful people who saved my life." Miyuki recalled the fond memories with Suki, Sera, and Suzuki. "And I'm doing this for them -to secure their future as they did mine, because during my time here I realized that it is simply in my nature to save and protect those who love me."

Sasuke's insides stirred with feelings of uncertainty. Even though he could not see her, he could feel and hear the concern and sincerity in her words. "This place has a way of making you realize what is truly important to you." Sasuke admitted reluctantly.

He had spent the better part of his adolescence here -and seeing everything that Orochimaru had done... the lives he tainted, all for the bettering of Sasuke's Sharingan and his Curse Mark...

He had thought he'd be okay with it at first -that it'd all be worth it, because he'd come out with the ability to defeat his brother -and initially he had been. But the more time he spent there, the more miserable he had grown -it especially didn't help, the few interactions he had had with Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi along the way, to help manifest his anxiety.

Their comradery -their love for one another, whether platonic, or Naruto's as always over-bearing affection towards Sakura that had never been just friendly. The way that Sakura looked at Naruto and Kakashi with such compassion and care -a way she used to look at him before.

Without going to Oto, perhaps he would have always been blind to what it was he truly craved in this world.

 _Acceptance._

 _Someone who knew him and loved him, and didn't expect anything from him except for love in return._

But that was all done with, he guessed.

The one person that had always been the pillar of love and acceptance had died in this very same hell-hole he was in right now.

"Ahh... I guess it does." Miyuki's voice brought him out of his inner thoughts. "Anyway, it's getting pretty late, Uchiha-san. You should return to your room for the night."

Sasuke blinked. "Hn." He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets once more.

"Don't get lost on your way back to the hotel, Uchiha-san. You'll find Otogakure has changed drastically since your last stay in these lands." With this comment she finally glanced his way for the briefest of seconds, some sort of mirth playing in the jaded eyes he could just barely make out through her outfit; they had nearly left him breathless right then and there, but he had recovered quickly, if only because she had finally turned, indicated by a swish of her robes. "I will see you tomorrow, Uchiha-san. Good night."

* * *

Sasuke had not returned to the hotel room until nightfall; Naruto and Shizune had already excused themselves for the night, but Kakashi had been waiting patiently for his former student which a typical perverse book in his hand under the light of a small lamp beside him.

"I'm back." Sasuke had initially grunted out, closing the door behind him.

Kakashi did not respond immediately, but after a few seconds, as if marking the page he had left off on, he closed his book shut and placed it on the coffee table beside him "Well?" he stared at his student expectantly.

"Well for starters, she assured me she holds no animosity or resentment towards Naruto nor us for what she did; she takes full responsibility for it. She seems... nice." he shrugged as he spoke, his hands shoved into his pockets. For a lack of better words, "nice" was all he could come up with. "She seemed genuine and honest; too honest, if anything. She's trying to guarantee us she means no harm... and its working, in my opinion." He could pinpoint no lies as she spoke (he was really good at detecting deception from his time with Orochimaru, but if she was, then she was a damned good one).

"Well you aren't fooled easily, Sasuke. Are you sure about her?" If Sasuke was certain, than he would give Miyuki the benefit of the doubt as well, until she made him believe otherwise, and he would also report to Tsunade the same.

But at this Sasuke seemed to pause, as if he wasn't at all certain of his conclusion. "No... I'm not."

And although Kakashi looked at him in a perplexed fashion as if asking him to elaborate, Sasuke refused to, and simply turned around. "I'm going to sleep. Good night." And even if Kakashi wanted to stop him and make him elaborate, he knew better than to hold back Sasuke once he began to brood. As such, he relented, sighed, and picked up his book of erotica once more.

 _Was he sure?_

Of course not.

But how could he be?

The jaded eyes he had seen -whether she had willed him to see them or it had simply been an accident, had so strongly reminded him of Sakura that he was glad Miyuki had disappeared right then and there, for it had taken him several minutes to even move from his spot atop the roof. And he was most definitely all too painfully aware of the fact that a lot of what she had said reminded him too much of Sakura, enough so that he had opened up minutely without even wanting to - _without even knowing he was!_ He had been caught off by them earlier that day during their lunch, but at that moment, their effects had been diminished by the gravity of Naruto's blunder; but now without that to hold him back, he realized just how similar her eyes were to that of Sakura's.

So how could he honestly and unbiasedly say that she could be trusted, if he felt he could not even trust his own heart to make a sound opinion?

And even more than that, it infuriated him to even be feeling so mixed up over a woman he had met just earlier that day!

He couldn't help but cough in irritation.

He hated Oto.

* * *

It had been a quiet enough morning; it was still far too early for anyone to be up unless they had to be, after all.

But of course this did not mean that Sakura wasn't already busy, doing away with stacks of paperwork in her office, enjoying the peaceful quiet she often shared with Itachi as he helped her with her paperwork -a usual routine that Sakura had suckered him into over the years. He would diligently come each morning with two cups of coffee, hand her one, and they would get right to work on whatever it was scheduled for that day.

"How are you fairing, Sakura?" it had been a damn near hour of silence -except for the brief exchange of good mornings, before Itachi had finally spoken casually, not even bothering to look up from his stack of paperwork as he addressed her.

"I'm almost done with my half of the paperwork." Sakura brushed Itachi aside with a wave of her hand, her other hand pausing momentarily to bring her cup of coffee to her lips.

"I'm not talking about your work, Sakura."

This had caused Sakura to momentarily look up, her eyebrows furled. "What do you mean-"

"You were conversing with Sasuke late last night."

Sakura could have groaned -but of course he had been watching. _He always was, that bastard_. "Yes, what of it?"

"Are you okay?" he reiterated his statement to clarify more concisely in a manner that he knew she knew, but was simply avoiding with feigned ignorance.

The question had hung in the air awkwardly -as if Sakura didn't know how to respond, and genuinely feared the answer. "I don't have time for this, Itachi. I'm to meet them for breakfast in an hour and I need to finish-"

She was deflecting again, a trait he knew to simply be her defense mechanism. But the fact that she didn't even answer him said all it needed to -she was not okay. Clearly her meeting with her team, and of Sasuke in particular, was affecting her, despite her incredible job at hiding it. "Sakura-"

But with another irritated sigh, she put down her pen and turned to face him fully. "You know what a better question would be, Itachi? If _you're_ okay." she finally addressed, her eyebrows raised and her lips forming into a small frown.

 _If he wanted to interrogate her, then so be it -she would do the same._

But at her question, Itachi briskly stood rigidly straight, a scowl mirroring Sakura's own on his features. "Sakura." he warned her with apprehension. She knew better than to meddle in his affairs, after several years of knowing him.

But at his response, she simply leaned back on her leather chair, crossing her arms defiantly. "No -while we're on this topic we're going to sort things out." she spoke with a clipped tone, her eyes narrowed. "And I know I don't need to remind you that you can't lie to me; not after all the time we spent together, isolated in that god forsaken cabin of yours."

Because quite frankly, if he had cared enough to have taken care of her with so much caution, with such a gentle touch, then this man, regardless of how he seemed outwardly, and regardless of his history and past actions, had a heart. She knew as much; hell, she had seen has much, had _felt_ as much, and she was but a mere comrade to him. So for Itachi to tell her that he had murdered the entirety of his clan to "test his capabilities"? Sakura knew now that Itachi was hardly the type, so what he had told her -and effectively Sasuke, was a load of crap on a stick.

No, there had been another motive, not that Sakura could possibly know what it was, nor could she ever get Itachi to tell her.

And truth be told, if he wanted to kill Sasuke, he would have. And if he wanted Sasuke to have obtained the Mangekyou before killing him, then he would have forced Sasuke to obtain it by now. "You don't have to be truthful to me, Itachi, but at least be honest with yourself."

Her statement struck a tender chord in him, although he did not show it.

"Sakura, I will not discuss this with you."

"Then I expect you to mind your own business too." she scowled once more. "Do not ask of me what you are not willing to give."

Itachi parted his lips to argue against this, but consequently closed them once more with an irritated frown. "I ask because you are visibly shaken, Sakura."

Sakura flinched -was he catching on to her imperceptible tell-tale signs? Or was he simply bluffing? Or, perhaps, even worse, was she actually very noticeably shaken? "Itachi, I really don't have the time-"

"I am only here to help, Sakura." he finally relented with a sigh, his irritation and displeasure melting away instantly, and for the briefest of seconds Sakura could see the near invisible signs of exhaustion and weariness from Itachi. "I am here for you to make use of me; if you do not wish to, that is fine-"

"Stop trying to guilt trip me." Sakura frowned once more. "You always do this; you think by guilt tripping me you'll get me to open up?"

"Those are not my intentions and you know it, Sakura." He sighed once more -Kami he swore she was always itching for a fight. He lifted his hand and gently poked Sakura on the forehead with his two fingers, causing a pout to appear on her features but the overall anger to melt away. "If you do not wish to tell me, that is fine." he finally concluded, "but then I expect you to hold yourself professionally."

Sakura scowled. "When do I not?"

Itachi responded merely with a presumptuous look, as if that in itself held volumes of explanation.

"I don't like your attitude." She huffed indignantly, and as such she stood haughtily. "If you will excuse me, I have to meet up with Kakashi and Shizune for their tour of the hospitals." And then, as if for added emphasis, "In about an hour, once you are done with the paperwork, have Kagami and Akira escort Sasuke and Naruto to the training fields."

Itachi frowned. "This is what I meant by acting professionally, Sakura." he stated with warning.

"Oh, I am." Sakura glared. "And last I recall, "I am here for you to make use of me" does not have a unless-Sasuke-is-involved clause."

Their eyes met, one with cool controlled restraint and the other with a daring fire. But of course -Sakura was simply daring him to go against her, to give her more of a reason to interrogate Itachi about his real motivations for the Uchiha Massacre because clearly it was getting in the way of his job.

"Very well then, as you wish, Lady Miyuki." But he would not let Sakura have it her way.

Pleased, Sakura smiled and stretched her arms. "I will see you in an hour, then."

* * *

"Zugoi." It was all Shizune could say, quite frankly.

She had been surprised and confused when Konan had showed up at their door bright and early the next day with a request from Miyuki -to take a more narrowed and focused tour of their hospital for Shizune to give her input in for areas of improvement.

-A request she more than gladly accepted, because truth be told, she had wanted to do the same thing anyway.

Due to Naruto obviously still snoring his life away, Kakashi and Shizune had branched off from the younger generation, leaving Sasuke to more or less lounge around until Naruto woke up.

 _"Lady Miyuki has also offered a small sparring session with your student, Hatake-san." Konan informed him respectfully. "If he wishes to so thoroughly make an impression, then she will allow him the honor of being sorely defeated." she smiled with an expression that showed of her confidence -taunting the Konoha nin._

 _"Naruto will be pleased to hear that." Sasuke snorted._

 _"Hai, Lady Miyuki assumed as much." Konan agreed with a nod. "But it will have to wait until Kato-san and Hatake-san are done with their tour of the hospital."_

 _"That's fine -Naruto won't wake up for another hour at least." Shizune stated with a roll of her eyes -Kami how did that boy sleep so much?_

 _"Excellent." Konan seemed pleased. "If you two would follow me then, I will escort you to the hospital."_

And that is how it had been, and how Shizune had thoroughly been given insight on the state of their hospitals, and perhaps most importantly, the research and caliber of the medics in the hospital. Nearing the end of their tour, Miyuki had appeared before them, clad in her usual ensemble. "Good morning Hatake-san, Kato-san." Miyuki greeted with a small smile. "How has your tour of the hospital been so far?"

And so Shizune began to speak, describing in elaborate detail how surprised she was with the advancements, and also a few key points that she saw room for improvement. And after everything had all been said and done, Miyuki thanked them graciously for complying to her small request, although neither of them felt like it had been too arduous a task. After all, it simply gave them more information to hand down to Tsunade in the long run.

"My spar with Uzumaki-san should be soon, if you would care to come see it, or perhaps you would like to return to your rooms to rest?"

"Iie, we'll gladly come see the spar." Kakahi spoke with a small, feigned smile, indicated by the crinkle in his lone visible eye.

-Of course, Sakura hadn't truly expected anything less, and as such, the four of them made their way outside of the hospital and towards the training grounds. "Akira-kun and Kagami should have already escorted your teammates to the training ground." she simply informed them. "Afterwards we can all have lunch outside."

* * *

"Naruto if you don't _shut up_ -" Sasuke threatened for the fifth time in the past half hour, an irritated grimace on his features, "then I will make it so that you won't even get the opportunity to spar with her."

"Oh _please_ Sasuke-teme, as if you could beat me." Naruto scoffed. "I'd like to see you try." he taunted with mirth filled eyes.

In response though, Sasuke merely rolled his eyes and turned away from the loud blonde, as if refusing to acknowledge his presence. They had arrived at the training grounds a little over fifteen minutes ago, the kunoichi known as Kagami stating that Naruto would have time to warm up before Miyuki arrived with the rest of his team.

And through it all, Naruto simply kept rambling on and on about how he was extremely eager to defeat her in battle, ever the confident loud-mouth.

And although Kagami reacted not to Naruto's incessant babble, it was clear to Sasuke that Akira, clearly not as seasoned, took Naruto's banter to heart. "As if you could ever defeat Lady Miyuki! You'll see." he scoffed, clearly haughty. "I'll be the one to laugh when Lady Miyuki effortlessly defeats you."

"That's a lot of talk from a little shrimp." Naruto snickered. "Hiding behind the cloak of your master because you can't do anything by yourself?" Naruto taunted.

But in response, the blue-haired boy simply flushed red in anger. "Please, I could defeat you any d-"

"That's enough, Akira."

The female shinobi beside him had spoken up suddenly, and it had made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. With a bitter pout, he relented, truthfully quite terrified of the female shinobi, and as such he succumbed to sulking in silence alongside Kagami and Sasuke, Naruto throwing a few kunai at a random tree, up until Miyuki, Konan, Kakashi, and Shizune finally made their appearance in the training ground.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted casually, his hands stuffed in his pockets, as he and the group of shinobi approached the large tree in which Sasuke, Kagami, and Akira current stood beneath. Glancing around, he noticed Naruto all warmed up and ready for his spar, staring at Miyuki heatedly -if he had expected her to come prepared for a spar, he was clearly disappointed to find her in the same boring cloak with the some boring hat.

"Lady Miyuki." Both Kagami and Akira bowed as they greeted their Kage. "I have brought the two Konoha shinobi here as you requested."

"Hai, arigatou Kagami." Miyuki merely nodded in thanks, before she turned to face Naruto, who was staring at her from several meters away with a serious expression on his features. "Looks to me like you're ready, then." Miyuki stated, pleased.

"Hai." Naruto merely stated, not talking nearly as much smack as he had been thirty seconds ago. No -now he had taken a more serious, thoughtful expression. Because even though he talked so much, he knew that for Miyuki to be a Kage, she had to have some serious tricks up her sleeves, and being so haughty before even knowing her techniques would probably be his downfall.

-That's something Kakashi would tell him, anyway.

"Very well. You all may stand here to the side if you wish, although I do have one request." Miyuki stated seriously, this time turning to face Sasuke and Kakashi. "Since this is not your fight, I ask that you respectfully keep your Sharingan eyes deactivated for the duration of our spar."

A reasonable enough request, although truth be told, Sakura had asked this mostly because Itachi was before them with a henge in place -a henge both of them would be able to discern easily if they so much as glanced his way.

With a nod, both Kakashi and Sasuke relented, and watched on as Kagami approached her Kage and took off her robe, folded it in her arms, and then proceeded to remove the hat from her head, leaving the Otokage in a simple black and grey ensemble, a weapons holstered to her back. Miyuki approached the battleground, where Naruto stood at the ready, and eyed him up and down. "Let's let this battle begin then, nee?"

* * *

"Your Otokage seems very dearly loved." The fight had yet to begin, as Naruto and Miyuki simply eyed each other up and down, the tension before the battle, it seemed, and Sasuke had used this opportunity to strike up a conversation with Kagami -of course, only to further learn about Miyuki.

"Hai; She has engraved her position in the hearts of the people." Kagami stated in affirmation.

"That's not something easily done, given the condition Orochimaru must have left this place in. They weren't openly mistrusting of her?" Sasuke questioned. Truth be told, he hadn't been able to get anything out of Miyuki the prior night. He'd have to stick to coaxing information out of her closest shinobi if he wanted anything.

"They were." she stated bluntly. "But Ojou-sama has a way of never losing hope. She has an unwavering strength and determination to succeed that far exceeds anyone I have ever met." To a certain extent, this wasn't far from the truth for Itachi, not that he would ever admit this in front of her.

Sasuke didn't respond to this, viewing the fight between the Otokage and his teammate. Truth be told, that night he had seen so much of Sakura in her, it wouldn't even have seemed absurd to him. But this... the kunoichi before him, was nothing like the Sakura he remembered.

Sakura's face, usually lit with happiness even during training sessions, was nothing like Miyuki's, her composure put together, analytical and serious, so collected it could even be compared to his own. Her stance was all wrong to the taijutsu master he knew in Sakura; Miyuki's posture instead indicating some sort of long-ranged techniques, of which he knew he would never have seen Sakura do.

And what was with the bow and arrow strapped to her back? Of all the weapons ninja usually use, that had to definitely be the most uncommon. Archery had practically become a dead art of bukijutsu, unheard of since the warring kingdom era. Her bow was intricate, not a typical wooden bow, but rather a steel one, sturdy (perhaps quite heavy, which would mean she had really good physical strength), and because of the shape and sharpness, it seemed to him that it had multiple uses. It could be used as not only an archer's bow, but it seemed a double sided sword as well (another art of bukijutsu not commonly seen).

"That's an interesting choice of weapon." Sasuke stated. "Custom made, perhaps?" Truth be told, he had never seen anything like it.

"Hai. Lady Miyuki's skill set relies heavily on surprising her enemies and overwhelming them subsequently. Furthermore, as Otokage, she has heavily reformed her fighting style and techniques to be advantageous in a group setting. Consequently, she is strongest amongst her shinobi." Akira stated, quite honored to talk about his Lady Miyuki.

"And why is her skill set like that?" It had been Kakashi to pipe in and ask this question.

"Because of her need to purge Orochimaru's influence and rid bandits from the nation." Kagami stated casually.

"During those early years, Lady Miyuki went around with a handful of shinobi to help her, I among them." Akira felt nearly proud to state this, recalling the days of travel with his Kage. Fighting alongside her had been a thrill in itself, Miyuki standing proudly amongst her peers. "Her long range, as I'm sure you've noticed, stemmed from the belief that she should stay a distance away from her enemies, in order to see the battlefield fully and protect a handful of her shinobi at a time while simultaneously attacking as well."

Sasuke nodded, understanding the thought process as his eyes once again shifted towards the Otokage. So if this were to be the case, would she not be at a disadvantage on a one on one battle?

"But don't think so lowly of My lady." Akira seemingly answered the question he had been thinking. "Perhaps the only thing worse than Lady Miyuki in a group battle would be that of her outnumbered." To this day, he could still recall how she had single-handedly beat him and fourteen other shinobi in protecting a single bell.

And just as Akira stated this, suddenly Naruto erupted into what seemed like one hundred identical clones of himself, an act which usually had a visible effect on his opponents, but seemed to not even make Miyuki blink.

Instead, she calmly began to remove her bow from her back, her hands already reaching for several arrows as the Naruto clones attacked.

She was quick, quicker than Sasuke would have ever imagined an archer being, as she shot five arrows in one swift release. They all hit clones and embedded themselves on the surrounding trees, but before she could fire anything else the Naruto clones were on her, and she swiftly dodged every blow, attacking a few with her bow. Yet, she seemed uninterested in harming them, seeing as they were not the real Naruto, and as such did her best to not destroy them completely, making her way to the other side of the battle field where Naruto had remained unmoving.

With a swift kick, one which Naruto could not block, he was sent flying towards a tree, although just as the contact had been made, he also disappeared.

He could hear Naruto's voice, this time all the way on the other side of the clearing. "You'll have to try harder than that, Otokage, if you want to attack me."

It was very typical of Naruto to hide himself within his clones and attack, an attempt that usually wouldn't work because the opponent would see the switch with any other person who wasn't Naruto. Yet, with the proportion of shadow clones that Naruto could make, usually the opponent was too busy defending themselves to notice. Yet, don't ask Sasuke why, but he had expected more from the Otokage.

Yet, she was seemingly unfazed, instead using the distance she had gained to once more fire out five more shots of arrows, these as well eliminating shadow clones and landing on different trees on the other side of the battlefield.

"I'm sure there are more efficient ways to destroy them, Otokage." Naruto snickered.

"Who said I wanted to destroy them?" It was the first word he had heard from Miyuki since their spar had begun, and the sudden statement made Naruto pause. What did she-

Suddenly he sensed movement not his own behind him, an identical clone of Miyuki behind him. Before he had time to respond suddenly she was attacking, taijutsu so strong he was nearly taken aback. _'It's like fighting Lee!'_ He was struck, not a particularly strong hit but enough for him to cringe in pain, to both his stomach and two spots in between his arms and chest. Before anything else could be done to Naruto's being though, two shadow clones jumped on Miyuki, drawing away her attention from the real Naruto. It disappeared quickly though, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Although in pain, Naruto couldn't help but snicker. "Is that all you've got, Otokage?"

She didn't respond, staring at Naruto, some sort of amusement flickering through her eyes. "You're very cocky, Uzumaki Naruto-kun."

He was about to respond, but suddenly there was movement once more, although they came from a source unexpected. He had no time to think as suddenly his shadow clones turned on him, an act he hadn't expected and as such he couldn't stop himself from getting hit by at least three clones. "What the-"

Akira couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Naruto battling with his own shadow clones. "He truly is a dunce."

Sasuke glanced at Akira and then back at the battlefield. Why were they-

"The arrows." Kagami stated, reading his mind.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, having thought them unimportant, but upon taking in their location, he realized they had formed a perfect box around the battle field. "Did she-"

"Hai." Akira grinned. "She casts a jutsu on them prior to battle. When activated, they form a powerful genjutsu around the area."

One which, although not directly affecting Naruto, had been aimed towards his clones. An ingenious technique, one which would have only worked on Naruto. Clearly, she knew his abilities going into this fight.

"She assumed that Naruto had hidden himself within his clones, and as such baited him into speaking, knowing he would reveal his location, giving her the pristine opportunity to attack." Akira seemed so smug, relishing in the fact that the well-known Konoha nin was getting his ass handed to him by his most precious Lady Miyuki.

"Hn" True to Akira's words, Naruto was definitely prone to doing such a thing. And with this thought, Sasuke shifted his attention back on the battle field. _'So what will you do now, Naruto?'_

Naruto seemed irritated, growling under his breath. "I don't know what you did to them, but they won't listen to me. They're of no more use to me." But even as he did the handsigns to dispel them, as he attempted to push chakra into his hands, he found he couldn't. "...What?" His eyebrows furled in confusion, but suddenly realization hit him. "You hit my chakra pathways." With a mere clone, she had been able to stop him from molding anymore chakra, and he didn't even know for how long.

Miyuki quirked a smile, although she didn't respond to him directly. "So what will you do now, Naruto?"

Truthfully speaking, Naruto only had two options, although he may not have been aware of them. He either had to destroy his own clones and wait out the time until he could fully use his chakra once more, or he had to dispel the genjutsu, which he probably couldn't tell was coming from the ten or so arrows surrounding the clearing.

"Naruto. Stop before you experience a crushing defeat." Sasuke called out to him, a comment that infuriated him.

"If I can't even beat her how would I be worthy of being Hokage?!" his spew of anger made his fists curl up into a tight ball.

"I mean, I would want to surrender too, seeing Lady Miyuki's sheer strength." Akira nodded in agreement at Sasuke. "He should surrender."

Sasuke glanced at him, a smirk plastered in his face. "This wasn't meant for him to give up."

Akira's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as he returned his gaze back onto the battlefield, and suddenly Naruto was thrashing around, destroying all of his clones with taijutsu.

"You were renewing his morale." It was Kagami's quiet comment that made Akira realize it, Sasuke's smirk still intact and amusement playing in his eyes.

"That dobe would never give up without first realizing his dream."

Akira grumbled, a small smile on his face at having taken for granted Naruto's fire, but nevertheless, he was content in knowing that he had fallen for Miyuki's trap nonetheless.

It had taken nearly twenty excruciating minutes of Naruto defeating his own clones -Miyuki casually leaning on a tree without so much as a care in the world (which only seemed to further aggravate Naruto, and push him to much greater lengths)

But of course, after fighting off one hundred or so of his clones, he was physically exhausted, and not to mention that his chakra was still not disposable to him -how was she able to hit his chakra pathways with such precision, without any sort of dojutsu? As far as he knew, the Byakugan was the only technique able to do so.

"So what will you do now?" She finally pushed herself off the tree her bow once more strapped to her back -for now, it seemed, she would be done using bukijutsu. "You have no chakra to use, and no matter how many times you try to attack me, you will lose." she proclaimed. Truth be told, it was fact. What made Naruto such a viable threat in battle was not his taijutsu, and most definitely not genjutsu, or his quick thinking on his feet. No, it was his copious amounts of chakra and his powerful ninjutsu on top of that. And with that sealed off, he was hardly anything that Sakura couldn't handle.

"If you think that's all I have in me, you're in for a surprise, Miyuki." his aggression towards her had long since thrown the formality out of the window, and now he was simply thinking of ways to once more (as if he had ever had it to begin with) gain the upper hand in their battle. "I will not rest without at least showing you my strength." And as he spoke, he finally charged with a kunai in his hand, not that it seemed to startle Miyuki in the slightest.

She had remained still, her body posture languid and uncaring, up until Naruto was mere feet from him, and it was then that she once more took out her archer's bow with such intense speed, Sasuke could not have been too certain she had done it to begin with, save for the blades that had engaged Naruto. She had disengaged him successfully, and seeing as he had no other option due to their close proximity, he began to engage her in taijutsu once more.

"You underestimating me will be your downfall." he mentioned as they fought, a small grin on his features. But before Sakura had any time to question this, suddenly she sensed movement above her -two clones, both with rasengans in their respective hands. Her eyes widened in alarm, having not expected his chakra to be accessible to him already (although perhaps this had more to do with the Kyuubi within him more than him).

Her eyes once more darted to Naruto, who was about to retreat, but with quick thinking she tripped him, and using the bowstring, she pulled him to her.

If she would be hit by the rasengan, then so would he. Alarmed, he began to struggle from the restraint at his neck, but seeing as he could not get away from her on time to have a successful attack, he ordered the rasengans on his clones' hands to dissipate, and almost as soon as they did, Miyuki yanked the real Naruto away, a well placed kick on his abdomen sending him flying, and using the blades protruding from her bow to rid the two clones about to pounce on her.

Naruto frowned in irritation -now that he no longer had the element of surprise, landing anything on her would be tricky. It seemed despite the long range her bow was sure to allude, the fact that it doubled as a two sided sword perhaps negated that assumption, and it only further upset him in knowing she seemed extremely adept at wielding it too.

But Kami, if he could only land one blow on her, he knew she would be down for the count.

"You almost alarmed me there," she chuckled lowly. She had been surprised, yes, but she had faced techniques and attacks far quicker and deadlier than Naruto's own at this point in time. So long as she could see him setting up for his rasengan, she would be able to negate his attack time and time again.

-Which Naruto knew he could do, if he so chose to use his Rasen-shuriken, or even his wind release shuriken, to made it a throwing projectile. But to do so he would need to enter Sage Mode: and despite this being a battle, it would escalate the fight into proportions he knew it should not go -and he had a feeling Sasuke and Kakashi would stop him immediately if he did so anyway.

And regardless, who's to say it would even work? If he escalated his fighting, the only guarantee was that she would too...

And could either of them handle that without getting carried away?

Iie... he would just have to play this out as best he could.

* * *

Their spar had continued for well over half an hour longer, until Miyuki had finally decided to call it quits; Naruto had yet to land anything of substance on her, and she was beginning to bore. More importantly, it was lunch time, and she knew he must be hungry.

But sitting down on the ground, utterly defeated, did not do much to calm Naruto's irritation or anger over the matter. _'Kuso... I wanted to show off my strengths and all I did was make a fool out of myself... Kakashi-sensei was right...'_ Even as he thought this, he noticed the figure of Miyuki approaching him.

"That was a well fought battle, Uzumaki Naruto-kun." they were a playful smile on her face, although Naruto couldn't quite tell if it was harmless or haughty due to his own displeasure over the situation. Irregardless, it pissed him off and made him look down at the ground in irritation. "Come, let's get some food, nee?" And as she spoke she reached out her hand for him to grab.

Indignantly, Naruto sighed and finally looked up to face the clear victor in battle as he began reaching out his hand to grab onto her own.

But for the slightest of seconds, the sun above them formed a perfect halo at Miyuki's head, and it had left Naruto breathless. His heart skipped a beat, his eyes wide, as he stared up at the kunoichi before him. "...S-Sakura?" He was left breathless for several seconds.

Her hand faltered, her eyes widening for a fraction of a second but recomposing herself very quickly, before Naruto could tell that his words had affected her. "Excuse me?"

Almost immediately after hearing her words, Naruto snapped out of his thoughts, flinching, as he refused her hand and got up abruptly. "Nothing. Never mind." He walked away, making his way towards Sasuke and Miyuki's two shinobi, leaving Sakura there, in an alarming state of nervous-ness. She knew it was dangerous to expose her face, especially in front of the likes of Team 7, but it had been out of her hands.

* * *

"So, blondie..." Akira began, smug as ever, "What was that about you kicking Miyuki-sama's ass?"

Naruto had been unusually quiet during their lunch -all of them had expected it to be because of his crushing defeat, but only Miyuki had a sliver of understanding of his true reasons. Accordingly, she had also been left stiff and awkward, although she hid it superbly.

Naruto had not responded immediately, as they had expected, but instead, Miyuki spoke up. "Now, now Akira-kun. That was but a spar. I'm sure thing would be different were we both trying our best." she eyed Naruto for the briefest of seconds, but as soon as their eyes met, he looked away uncomfortably, and it made Sakura that much more aware of the fact that somehow, he had caught on to the fact that she looked identical to the Sakura Haruno they once knew -hell, she was that very same person, but none of them had been able to make that connection up until now. "In another note," Miyuki spoke up once more, averting her gaze to that of Kakashi's, "I hope it's not too rude of me to ask when you will be leaving. The Hokage did not exactly give me a time frame to your stay, and quite frankly, I cannot afford to procrastinate on my duties for very much longer."

"Iie, that is perfectly understandable, Otokage-san." Kakashi nodded respectfully. "Arigatou, for your hospitality up until now, and dealing with the idiotic antics of my team." he forced out a hesitant laugh. "If it isn't too much to ask for, tomorrow morning would be an ideal time for us to leave."

"Hai, that works for me." Although she didn't show it, Sakura was entirely pleased with this -Kami knew she was better off keeping Konoha nin outside of her borders and far, far away from her. "Please tell Hokage that the next time, I would love to meet her personally. There is much we should discuss." Clearly, Miyuki wasn't just stating this for a reason. She knew that, until both of them met, that Tsunade would still have her doubts about Oto, and these were doubts she wanted to eliminate as soon as possible if only to maintain the safety of her village.

"Of course." Kakashi stated with a nod. "Perhaps writing her a letter and sending it with us would be the best course of action." Kakashi suggested.

Miyuki merely nodded in affirmation. "Hai, of course."

Conversation from there on ran smoothly, although the main conversationalists within the group had not been Miyuki and Naruto, but rather Akira, Konan, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Shizune, Naruto still awkward and broody. Once lunch had ended, Miyuki had excused herself once more so she could finish off the paperwork she never got around to finishing.

Kagami had thusly left with her Kage, and had left Akira and Konan to cater to the demands of the Konoha nin, although it seemed that all Naruto wanted to do was go back to his room to rest -accordingly, he had left out of his own volition, whereas Sasuke, Shizune, and Kakashi had opted to instead roam the village and take it its sights -and perhaps do a little souvenir shopping.

* * *

Sakura had scampered off -Itachi and Konan knew it, but if only to put up face, she had used the excuse of her paperwork. As such she had teleported away, although she was not surprised to see Itachi, no longer henge'd, appear beside her a few seconds later.

There was much he wanted to say to the kunoichi, expressing his displeasure at grouping him with his brother being one of them, but there was something else he wanted to know with a sense of urgency.

They had exchanged a few words at the end of their battle, and whatever it had been, it had startled Sakura and scared her off -he knew it, and Sakura knew he knew. "What happened?" His voice had ripped through the tense silenced enveloping Sakura and reverberated in the confines of her office space. She did not respond immediately, and as such he had been left to stare at her back, waiting for her to acknowledge him. But when she did not, Itachi parted his lips once more. "Sakura."

His commanding voice forced her to turn around and face him, and with uncontrolled, nervous eyes, she finally stared up at him. "He said my name, Itachi... He called me Sakura."

He had recognized her, even if just for the briefest of moments, and had dismissed his thoughts seconds later, but he had recognized her nonetheless.

 **End of Chapter**

 **So we're already beginning to see traces of Sasu x Saku early on, although the build up will be really slow because their interactions will be few and far in between. But fear not -once the plot has developed in the direction I want it to go, it'll be filled with all that good stuff :)**

 **I know it's taken me such a long time to update, and I truly apologize for that, but at least I did give you guys a fair warning in advance. Updates will be few and far in between, seeing as I do want to maintain updates with the (S) version and the (I) version the same and I do have other stories I'm focusing on.**

 **Next on my agenda will be more Sakura's New Past Revisions and hopefully another installment to The List, although I make no promises.**

 **Any and all feedback is much appreciated, and as always, sorry if the fight scenes were not up to your standards x)**


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